Saturday, June 8, 2024

I have been interested in a temperature quilt since I saw photos from the latest Saskatoon quilt show. A temperature quilt uses blocks that incorporate the high and low temperatures of any particular day. My first thought was to do the quilt to represent the high temperatures for 2023; that was a leap year and I thought that would be fun. And my interest in yo-yos worked into that same project because the high temperatures would be done with a yo-yo on a neutral background.

I found a source for all the historical temperatures of 2023 so I was set. Stacia sent me a gizmo that made making the yo-yos a breeze. So I started experimenting. I wasn’t too pleased with the results in the one on the left so I made another and added a button to cover the gap in the gathering. I was still skeptical.

The more I thought about the project I thought I’d rather have a circle in the centre. I purchased a set of Perfect Circles and attempted to create a circle that could be placed on the background. Immediately I realized that wasn’t going to work. Stacia advised me that I wasn’t using the perfect circle tool in the right way but another test didn’t work out so well either. I really wanted this to be a hand-stitching project so I ruled out machine appliqué even though that would have given me the near-perfect circle I was looking for. So why don’t I try using an English Paper Pieced hexagon for the centre? I was happy with how that test turned out.

The more I thought about the project I decided I should also incorporate the low temperatures for the day. So the hexagon would be the high temperature for the day and the background colour would be the low temperature. And wouldn’t it be more fun to do a year of temperatures based on my first year of life (September 20, 1950 to September 19, 1951). I was able to find a site that listed those temperatures in the Saskatoon area; close enough to Elrose temperatures.

I decided on my temperature ranges (-40 to 36) and picked my colours. I didn’t want to purchase any fabric. I had a line of fabric that I had originally planned for a Tumbling Blocks quilt that I’ve now decided not to make. I recorded all the colours I would need for each day but on closer examination of the charts I realized that on several days the highs and lows were within the same temperature range.

For those particular days the background fabric and the hexagon would be the same colour and wouldn’t stand out very well. So why don’t I go back to the yo-yo idea in order to make each block more 3-D so when the colours were the same they would stand out a bit from one another. But this time I’ll use the flat side as the “good” side.

Next thing I had to do was to ensure I had enough fabric for each colour. I counted how many yo-yos I needed for the high ranges as well as how many background blocks I needed for the low ranges. Provided I’ve done the math right I’ll be fine.

So I’ve come full circle (pun not intended) and I’ll satisfy my yo-yo and temperature quilt urges in one project.