The Rebellious Weathergirl

My latest finished quilt is a journal quilt of sorts.  The background squares are color coded to the lowest temperature of a given day, the melon appliquéd on top indicates the high temperature.  My quilt has more than 365 blocks, and they aren’t arranged chronologically, but the quilt still tells my story of 2023.

I knew from the start that my arrangement of blocks would not be chronological.  I had seen quite a few photos of temperature quilts using various blocks to show the high and low temperatures of the day and with my love of journal quilts, I thought it would be fun to do.  Some people even include stitches to depict rain, snow, wind, but temperatures seemed enough for me.

i decided on appliquéd melons as my quilt block and chose to use a range of Cherrywood hand-dyed solid fabrics already selected by another quilting blogger. I cut 3” squares of fabrics, made a melon template that fit within that 3”, and was ready to sew.

Each day in 2023, I checked the previous day’s temperature data, recorded the figures on my spreadsheet, pulled the fabrics from my dedicated stash, and appliquéd a melon.  On days when we were away from home, I recorded the temperatures for Macon and for our physical location, stitching the blocks when I returned home. 

Early in 2024, I assembled the blocks on the design wall in monthly arrays, and made photos.  I also assembled two chronological arrays using 365 blocks; one for the temperatures at home, one for the temperatures in whatever location we had been.  With trips to Scotland, Colorado, and Louisiana, there were visible differences in those two arrangements.

I uploaded those two photos to Spoonflower (an online digital printing service) and had each one printed on ½ yard of cotton fabric.  I was then free to arrange the 400 blocks in a more pleasing arrangement than the calendar provided.  So I spent a few days moving blocks and looking, moving again, and finally settling on an arrangement that pleased me.  

The back of the quilt holds records of the two chronological layouts, and a strip that shows the temperature range assigned to each color.  The label is a vintage doily overdyed with indigo dye and the title, The Rebellious Weathergirl, acknowledges the fact that I knowingly broke the rules of temperature quilting.  The quilt measures 50” square and is finished with a ⅜” plaid binding.