2018 Temperatures

I had so much fun recording the daily high temperatures in 2018.  I choose hexies because it gave me a chance to both make the pieces ahead of time and to practice my hexie sewing. 

Clearly, as the photo of the back demonstrates, I still have a way to go in my hexie skills - the back is a bit of a hot mess.  (In my defense, this is only my second hexie project - Random was my first.)

As a quilting design, I choose to put several spirals.  I really like the way it looks but it was a bit of a bear to do because I didn't really think things through before starting and found myself in tough corners!

I've started on my temperature quilt for 2019.  I am staying with the same color palette so that I can compare 2018 to 2019.  I decided to drop the hexie and go for simple 2'' squares, hand pieced.  I have managed to keep up daily - only takes a moment.  This photo is through January 9. 

You can see already how different the year is shaping up.  We had a high of 71 degrees on January 1!  I am thinking about recording the low temperatures with big stitch quilting when it is all assembled.

Comparing the two years is going to be fun.  For my 2018 quilt, I am going to bind it with the colors from my temperature scale and will use the hexies (shown in the photo below) as a label on the back.(Want to make your own temperature quilt?  See the tutorial!)

For reference, here is the scale I am using.  I am actually in the process of turning these hexies into the label for the back of the quilt.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

September Temperatures

(Click here for One Monthly Goal October link-up.)

North Carolina is slow to move away from summer.  Look at all those days in the 90s (i.e. red) and 80s (orange) that we had this month!  Temperatures dropped a little when Hurricane Florence came through and although parts of the state were hit extremely hard with flooding, we were lucky and did fine in that storm.

The first column (of color) on the left is January 1 through 15, next column January 16 through 31 etc which means the last column on the right is September 16-20.  I'm using a low volume fabric to fill in months that don't have 31 days plus surrounding the overall temperature quilt.

I did get myself a little twisted up this month when I added the hexie for the 16th at the end of one column instead of the beginning of the next.  That meant ripping out and reattaching a whole bunch of hexies!

The quilt measures roughly 32'' x 28''.   Here is the mapping of color to temperature range - 

I'll be linking my quilt up to a temperature quilt link-up plus I'll be linking up at Brag about Your Beauties,  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

August Temperatures

(Click here for One Monthly Goal September Link-up)

I am so thrilled I am doing this quilt - it is fun to look back on a month.  August clearly was hot - more than half the days were in the 90s.  September days will start to cool things down so it will be fun to use something other than red and orange!

The first column (of color) on the left is January 1 through 15, next column January 16 through 31 etc which means the last column on the right is August 16 - 31.  I'm using a low volume fabric to fill in months that don't have 31 days plus surrounding the overall temperature quilt.

The quilt measures roughly 32'' x 25''.

Still no days over 100 degrees yet here in NC and now as we march closer to fall, it is less likely there will be one.  It did hit 95 at the end of the month so still possible.

Here is the mapping of color to temperature range - 

I'll be linking up my wip with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

July Temperatures

Click here for the August One Monthly Goal Link-up

It has been a warm summer!

The first column (of color) on the left is January 1 through 15, next column January 16 through 31 etc which means the last column on the right is July 16 - 31.  I'm using a low volume fabric to fill in months that don't have 31 days plus surrounding the overall temperature quilt.

The quilt measures roughly 32'' x 22''.

No days over 100 degrees yet here in NC - is it strange that I am hoping for at least one?   We did have a day in July reach 99 .... so, so close!

Here is the mapping of color to temperature range - 

I'll be linking up my wip with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

Random - a finish

Once upon a time*, I purchased a mini-charm pack filled with every gorgeous color from Paintbrush Studios solids.  With no specific project in mind, I turned them into about 100 hexies.

And then I started to assemble them - randomly.  I disciplined myself to blindly pick a hexie and attach it irredgardless of the color of the neighboring hexie.

 I continued in a clockwise direction until essentially it was time to square off the project.  Placement was still random though.

All complete, I adhered my project to fusible fleece** and then sewed a basting line all around the edge.

Then, more random fun.  I gathered all my thread - a mix of Aurifil & Superior So Fine - into a basket and proceeded to hand quilt.  Patterns we again randomly done.  Most of the time these were running stitches but a few times I got a bit 'fancy'.  Thread was either coordinating color or it not - everything was fair game.

One every hexie had at least a line of hand-quilting. I squared the project up to 15'', redoing the basting stitch along the edge where needed.

Love the way the back looks!

For the back, I followed my own tutorial to add a zipper and used a navy blue with a accent of some Sweetwater text fabric.

And now I have a beautiful pillow.

 Pictured above on my couch, the pillow actually now sits on my comfy gilder rocker (left over from when my kids were babies) where I like to sit and read or stitch at the end of the day.

* last summer

** although this seemed like a good idea at the time to keep things in place and avoid the need to actually baste with pins, it was a bear to sew through that fleece and led to hand fatique

I'll be linking up my finish with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

June Temperatures

(Click here for July One Monthly Goal link-up.)

June was a hot one here in central North Carolina!  See all that red?  Those are temps in the 90s!

The first column (of color) on the left is January 1 through 15, next column January 16 through 31 etc which means the last column on the right is June 16 - June 30.  I'm using a low volume fabric to fill in months that don't have 31 days plus surrounding the overall temperature quilt as you can see surrounding the quilt on left edge, top and bottom.

The quilt measures roughly 32'' x 19''.

Summer arrived in June - lots and lots of days in the 80's and the 90's - all which brought some changes to my plan.  First, there were so many more days that hit 85 which put me at real risk for not having enough of my 85-89 orange fabric.  I ordered some more.  

Then, we ended up with two days with temperatures over 95 so I had a chance to see my color in action.  I didn't like it. (You can see it in this post.)  Back to my stash I went and found a different red to use for the 95-99 range.   The arrow in the photo above points to the red for 9-99.  The 90-94 is more of a red orange, the 95-99 is a tomato red and the 100+ is a deep purple-red  

Here is the mapping of color to temperature range - 

I'll be linking up my wip with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

April Temperatures

(Click here for the May One Monthly Goal link-up)

I am having more fun with this quilt that I could have ever imagined.  Each night I check the high temperature for the day and then take a few minutes to attach the appropriate colored hexi.  I expect many temperatures in the 80's in the weeks ahead so I've pre-made a bunch of orange hexies!

The first row (of color) on the top is January 1 through 15, next column January 16 through 31 etc which means the last row on the bottom is April 16 through April 30.  (April 30 is the yellow one on the left in that bottom row.)   I'm using a low volume fabric to fill in months that don't have 31 days plus surrounding the overall temperature quilt as you can see surrounding the quilt on left edge, top and bottom.

The quilt measures roughly 32'' high and 13 1/2'' wide at this point.

Those cold days of January seem like a very distant memory at this point.  But there isn't as much yellow (temps in the 70s) in April as I would have expected.

Here is the mapping of color to temperature range - I'm using the high temperature for the day and sourcing the data from here.  

Have a wonderful day! Patty

March Temperatures

I bid March goodbye!  After February gave us wonderful warm Spring temperatures here in North Carolina, March brought back winter with cold and even some snow!

The first column (of color) on the left is January 1 through 15, next column January 16 through 31 etc which means the last column on the right is March 16 through 31. I'm using a low volume fabric to fill in months that don't have 31 days plus surrounding the overall temperature quilt so this is what you see surrounding the quilt on left edge, top and bottom.

The quilt measures roughly 32'' high and 11'' wide at this point.

That orange hexie in the sea of blues, aquas and green was an 80 degree day we got in mid-February and then another warm one at the end of March.  

Here is the mapping of color to temperature range.  These hexies are now sewn together in one long strip , shown in the photo above.

It takes me about 10 minutes to make and sew a hexie on each night.  Sometimes I end up batching them up.  That said, I am trying to baste up the hexies ahead of time - just need a better storage solution.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

My hexie projects

Aren't these pretty?

These are Christmas themed hexies from a mini charm pack.

Hexies are new to me this fall and I am finding that they are surprisingly addictive.  I got started after seeing the #100hexies100days2017 challenge on IG.  While I'm not sharing my progress daily on Instagram, I have been making at least one (thread basted) hexie each day.

Not sure what I will make with my solid ones but I do know I want it to be awesome.

Before I create too many more, I decided to do something with the 30ish fall themed ones I made to test out the overall technique of assembling these together.  Here is what I have so far.

My thought is to machine stitched down the other edge and indeed to make this into a small mini and do some FMQ in the background area.  I've not yet decided how to quilt the actually hexies but may just outline them.

Have you caught the hexie bug?

Have a wonderful day! Patty