2020 Temperature Quilt

It's finally finished! I am so thrilled with how my 2020 temperature quilt turned out, even if it did take almost all of 2021 to get it finished 😂 

This post from January 2020 has all the details about how I planned the quilt and made the blocks, if you're curious. The only change I made from the plan was to add a border on all sides so the binding wouldn't be covering any of the circles on the edge. And if you'd like to make your own temperature quilt, check out my How to Plan Your Temperature Quilt post.

For the record, my husband is tucked away behind that quilt! I didn't think it was possible for him to hide behind it, but he managed it. The quilt finishes at 30" x 31". I really didn't want a throw size temperature quilt, so this wall hanging feels perfect to me. I tell you, whenever I finally have a sewing room, I'll have plenty of things to decorate it with! Did you see my A Stitch a Day frameable print? It's just waiting for a chance to look great on a shelf in that sewing room and the temperature quilt will look great on the wall. Someday!

As usual, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would quilt this quilt. I thought about quilting something in each of the circles, but they're quite thick because of how they're appliqued on, so I decided against that. Plus, that would have been a lot of starting and stopping, to do a year's worth of circles. I love how Ali of Exhausted Octopus quilts her Tiles quilts, but her tiles have more space around them than my circles do, so I decided against that, too. In the end, I decided to quilt around each circle and do a tiny stipple in between them, all with Aurifil 50 wt in white. I love, love, love the result!

Just look at how puffy those circles are! Yes, they do feel every bit as amazing as they look and I love running my hands over them.

I stitched around the letters for the monthly markers and the numbers for the year, too. They're all embroidered with Aurifil 12 wt 2785 (very dark navy). I was worried I'd stitch over the embroidery with the quilting, but I was able to keep the quilting just a little away from the embroidery, which gives the letters and numbers a little bit of puff, too.

I wasn't nearly as good at going around the circles. Oops. The first time I nipped up onto the circle, I thought about ripping it out, but then I just kept going. I figured it would probably happen on more than the one circle, but I also figured it probably wouldn't be that noticeable when I wasn't so close to it. I was right on both counts, lol. I have no idea how many circles have a few quilting stitches on their edges, but there are quite a few. You can see a couple of them in the picture above.

The quilting looks so good on the back, too. 

I went with a simple white binding so the temperature circles wouldn't have anything competing with them and I like the simplicity it gives to the back, too.

It has been interesting to compare last year's temperatures with this year's. For example, for 2020, our first day with a high above 0℃ was February 23rd. This year it was January 6th and there were 6 days above 0 in January.

I had to use one circle representing -13 to -15℃, but this year I wouldn't have had to use that fabric at all. Yet, obviously, but I don't think it will get that cold before the year is over. That's more a February/March kind of temperature.

December of 2020 was unusually warm, which is why there are so many circles representing warmer temperatures right up to the last column, which represents the 14th to the end of the year. There are 5 circles in that last column representing above 0℃ temperatures, one for 1-3℃ (the 21st), one for 4-6℃ (the 25th), and three for 7-9℃ (the 22nd, 26th and 27th). Since I can't yet compare this year's December temperatures, I looked back to 2019 for the same dates. That year December 15th was 8℃ and then every day to the end of the year had a high temperature that was 0℃ or colder. For 2018, the 22nd and 23rd were both 5℃, but the rest of the column was 0℃ or colder.

A temperature quilt needs a label that explains what all the fabrics mean, so I made one to put on the back, but you may notice there's nothing actually written on it yet. That's because I've put in a request to Santa for fabric markers for another project, so I'll wait and write the temperatures and our town on it with a fabric marker after Christmas before attaching the label to the quilt.

There are a few fabrics I would move, looking at the gradient put together like this. There's one purpley-pink that should be closer to the purple that is for 0℃ and the blue that represents -1 to -3℃ is darker than the next couple of blues that represent colder temperatures. I'm not sure why I didn't pick up on those when I planned the gradient, but it's much too late to change it now!

A temperature quilt was a fun project and I'm glad I made it. I'm also glad it's finally finished! I'm not sure if I'll ever make another one or if this is more of a one-and-done sort of thing for me. Looking at this one does make me very happy, though.

A Stitch a Day

You know how there are some things you know, but you still have trouble actually putting them into practice? Well, getting myself to actually work on my WIPs was one of those things for me. I knew that if I worked on my dragon cross stitch a little bit every day I would make progress. Getting myself motivated to get it out and do those stitches was an entirely different manner. The WIPS-B-GONE challenge has given me the motivation I needed and that dragon is really moving along 😊

I created a fun printable as a reminder to get those projects out and work on them! A Stitch a Day is now available in my Etsy shop. Yes, I did colour the thread spools orange in honour of Aurifil 😊

A Stitch a Day fits perfectly in a 5x7 frame; I picked mine up from the dollar store. Now if only I had a sewing room to display it in!

Since this is a printable, you simply download the file after purchase and print it on your home printer. That means you can print as many as you want to give as gifts for your quilting friends - personal use only, though. No selling them, please.

Go to my Etsy shop for the A Stitch a Day printable. If you display it in your sewing room, and share it on social media, I hope you'll tag me so I can see it!

The Root of the Problem

Devotion for the Week...

Many places are saying they're having trouble finding people to work right now. They blame the people, saying they're lazy because they'd rather not work and just take the money that governments are giving out to help people because of the pandemic. The people, on the other hand, are pointing out that they make more money from what the government gives out than they would if they were working. They're not lazy, they're actually better off financially if they don't work. Rather than blaming people for not working, it's important to find the root of the problem and fix it.

Nehemiah had a similar problem once after he returned to Jerusalem from a trip. He came back and found that the Levites were not performing their duties at the Temple and had returned home to their own towns instead. Rather than losing his cool at the Levites and blaming them for abandoning their proper work, he found the root of the problem. Nehemiah 13:10 says, "I also discovered that the Levites had not been given their prescribed portions of food, so they and the singers who were to conduct the worship services had all returned to work their fields." 

A portion of the offerings people brought to the Temple was supposed to be given to the Levites as their pay for their work, but either the people had stopped bringing their offerings or the offerings weren't being properly distributed. The Levites, of course, could not live without food, so they had to stop working at the Temple (for little or no pay) and return to their fields so they could provide food for their families.

Nehemiah got right to work fixing the problem. "I immediately confronted the leaders and demanded, “Why has the Temple of God been neglected?” Then I called all the Levites back again and restored them to their proper duties. And once more all the people of Judah began bringing their tithes of grain, new wine, and olive oil to the Temple storerooms. I assigned supervisors for the storerooms... and it was their job to make honest distributions to their fellow Levites" (vv. 11-13).

When there are problems, it's tempting to put all the blame on the people we feel aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. It might be more helpful, though, to look for the root of the problem and fix it.