Temperature Quilt 2020 finally done!

Drumroll please!  Maybe a little trumpet fanfare?  My Temperature Quilt is finally quilted, bound and ready to snuggle under.

It's not a fabulous photo, but it's cold outside, even while doing a happy dance, so I didn't spend too long fussing with the styling.

Here's an indoor shot from when I was quilting it.  The lighting and colours are poor, but you get a better view of the quilting texture.  I quilted these concentric circles with my walking foot.

If you have not been introduced to the concept of a temperature quilt, here's a quick primer.  It's a quilt with one block or unit for every day of the year.  Temperature ranges are represented by different colours or prints.  The daily temperatures dictate what fabric to use to make each day's block.  Some quilters also include a clue about sun, cloud, rain or snow as well, or days when they were in a different location.  I kept mine simple, with just the daily high and low temperatures represented.

You might remember my efforts to include the temperature/color key on the back of the quilt.  I finally chose a plan last September.  Here's how that turned out.

Let's get a closeup so you can see the information I quilted onto the backing before layering the quilt. It's subtle, but it's in there on the left end of each strip.

Did you notice the colourful binding?  I had planned a plain red binding all around, but didn't have enough.  The quilt shop was closed and I was impatient to finish, so I gathered up little scraps of all the colours.

This is the scrappiest binding I have made since my very first quilt over 20 years and 100+ quilts ago.  I absolutely love the way it turned out.  It's so much more interesting than a single colour binding would have been!  I think it was meant to be.  The piece are all approximately the same length (give or take an inch) and I was sure I'd end up with a shorter length that would stand out like a sore thumb where I joined the ends to finish.  Nope!  It just fell into place beautifully, with no extra long or extra short section to mark the join.

The short sections in rainbow order make the binding look almost ombre.

I have seen several quilts that also incorporated the year and location in the piecing or quilting, but I ran out of enthusiasm and left that out of the quilt construction.  I promise I added it to the label I wrote with fabric pen in one corner on the back.

One final picture before the quilt heads to the couch to brighten up the living room.

It's not too late to start your own temperature quilt.  You can use any dates you want:  the current year, January 1 to December 31 or birthday to birthday, or even use old data from a year that holds some significance for you. 

• You can get my free pattern here, or search the web for inspiration for other temperature quilt designs
• You can read about how I kept the project organized here and here.
• In the US, the National Weather Service is a good source of temperature data past and present
• In Canada, you can find weather information from Environment Canada

Happy quilting,

Joanne