Temp Quilt Wednesday?

Temp Quilt Tuesday has a better ring to it than Temp quilt Wednesday, but I missed Tuesday.  In this somewhat surreal state the world is in right now, I lost track of my days, but I'm overdue for a Temp Quilt update, so Wednesday will have to do!

Temperature Quit progress to March 14, 2020

With new pattern releases at the end of February, a last minute trunk show with the lovely Fort Dodge Area Quilters (thanks for inviting me!) and preparing and teaching a two-part ruler quilting class, the temperature quilt was rather neglected.  When I picked it up last weekend I had about 5 weeks of blocks to catch up on.  They are quick, simple blocks, but keeping the colours in the right places when catching up on 35 blocks at once required a bit more organisation to be efficient.

I borrowed some ideas from Raewyn to get organised.  I had precut strips of each colour and was cutting squares off the strips as needed. This worked fine when I was keeping up, but was bit tedious when I had 35 days' worth of catching up.  I decided to keep a supply of cut squares handy.  If I end up with extras of any color, I'll just have to come up with a little bonus project or add them to the scrap bin.  I am keeping the squares organised by temperature in little baggies, and clipping the bags together to keep them in order so that I can find each temperature's colour quickly.

Raewyn also writes the date and temperature range on the seam allowance of the block.  I adapted this to note the date and whether the square represents the maximum or minimum for that date, to help me sort things out easily if I get the squares jumbled up before sewing the pairs together.

I also tried to press towards the minimum temperature square.  This helped me keep track of top and bottom when I added the grey background pieces, without having to flip it over and check the marked seam allowance again.

I also too some time to cut out all the background pieces.  I had cut a bunch ahead, but I decided I might as well get them all ready, since I am definitely committed to this project now.  These pieces are also nicely sorted and stored.

I'll have to come up with a more environmentally friendly sorting solution that these plastic bags.  I promise I will at least reuse these again and again.

Once I had all this set it took me less than an hour to catch up, and I think now I can keep up more easily.  If I get behind again, I have a system that makes catching up easier, so I might avoid the cycle of falling further behind because catching up takes too long, which makes me leave it for later, when there will be even more to catch up on!

January and February rows are complete and sewn to each other.  I'm now only a few days behind for March.  I guess I'll go take care of that next!  I will say it's lovely to see the yellow and orange creeping into the quilt, so that's good incentive to go make a few blocks.

My Temperature Quilt pattern is still available free to download here.

Topiaries

After many peeks at Topiaries in progress, here it is, complete.

This one is made using a precut strip pack of 2 1/2"strips, plus yardage for background, border and binding. This particular strip pack was a Northcott Shimmer colorway, with coordinating yardage for the border and a metallic gold Moda Grunge for the background.

I finished the top in early November, and slowed to a standstill when I decided I wanted to try quilting the whole quilt with my Westalee quilting rulers.  I knew I wanted to use the rulers, but it took me awhile to decide exactly what to quilt to complement the piecing.

I had to pick out the freehand feathered wreath I had tried in one block before deciding to use rulers.  The wreath turned out OK, but it just didn't pop in that block.  I just was not going to go to the effort of quilting 11 more feathered wreaths if they were just going to fade away and not show up!  It was worth picking it out, because I think the petal motif I came up with using the 6" Spiral ruler is perfect for the space and the piecing.

Check out this picture of the back for a better look at the crosshatching in the background bits. Backing fabric is Moda Grunge dot metallic.

I like how the border quilting turned out.  I made good use of my Westalee stitching line discs with pencil and paper to sketch out what it would look like before I started stitching. This was not my first, or even my second idea, but it was the right choice.  I think Rosie agrees.

I really like how the quilt turned out, and I think this is one I might make again for a quick gift.  It comes together really quickly, with easy cutting and piecing.  I think it would work in any color scheme, or in any fabric style.  I can picture it as easily in modern prints as in Civil War or Thirties reproduction prints.  I chose just one color, but multicolor works too.  Take a look at what my testers came up with.

Topiaries quilt made by Sunny of @sunny_4_now on Instagram

Topiaries quilt made by Tina Fugate

Thank you to Tina and Sunny for their testing efforts and for allowing me to share photos of their quilts.  I released the pattern with much more confidence thanks to their feedback.

The pattern is available in my Etsy shop.

Sprinkled

I had so much fun designing and making this quilt!  I don't use precuts often, but when this idea popped into my head as I tried to fall asleep one night and was still there when I woke up in the morning, I knew I needed to make it.

This version was made with Island Batik strips and some metallic Moda Grunge yardage.  I even used leftovers lengths strips for a scrappy binding.

I planned to gift this one to one of my daughter's friends, and my daughter suggested her friend would love a touch of Cuddle fabric (similar to Minkee) somewhere on the quilt. I didn't want to deal with the weight of a cuddle backing as I quilted on my domestic machine, so I added a cuddle applique instead.  I've done this before and liked how it turned out.  My daughter has a cuddle penguin on her quilt.

The pattern for the dog applique is from the Buddies Project Trio Pattern by Karen at KLee 2Strings.  This design was perfect for my daughter's dog-loving friend.  I just enlarged it to fit the space and voila!  The quilt was very well-received.

After deciding to write up the pattern, I made a second quilt to test my written instructions.  Can you believe how well last Sunday's blue sky set off the blue fabrics?  I did a little jig when I looked at these pictures, and the blue version immediately displaced the purple version as the pattern cover quilt. These fabrics are Deep Blue Sea Shimmer by Northcott fabrics, and coordinating cream Shimmer yardage.

Both my versions used a cream for the borders and triangles, but there's no need to stick to cream and neutrals.  Take a look at what my wonderful pattern testers came up with.

This is Tammy's version.  I'm a sucker for blues, so of course I love her blue for the accent!

Sandie let her granddaughter's love of pink guide her fabric choices.  The heart themed fabrics are really cute, so different from my choices.  Now I can picture this quilt as a strip "I spy" quilt for a child.  Just one strip each of multiple novelty fabrics....

Thank you Tammy, Sandie!  Thanks also to Teresa, though I'll have to wait until she gets the quilt back from her longarm quilter to get a photo.

Sprinkled is now available in my Etsy shop.   From now through March 7th, enjoy any or all of my four new patterns for 25% off regular price.