New 2026 Sew Along with Denise

 I love Sew Alongs. They help keep me accountable and moving forward when there seem to be soooo many projects (which is always).

I've wanted to make both Floral Felicity and Park Place for a while now. They are both from Sew Kind of Wonderful and are both really cute. The curves are gentle, eaasy to cut and sew (no pins or glue needed). I did a post on FaceBook asking your opinion, and you have spoken - it's going to be Park Place.

So here's how it will work - send me an email (djps1957@gmail.com) that you want to join in. Its free to join. You can get your pattern and ruler (Wonder Curve Ruler) from me (Etsy Shop), your local quilt shop, or favorite on-line store.

We'll start with introductions and fabric choices (FQ and scrap friendly) in July. Then every month for 5 more months I'll do a demonstation via Zoom on the first Monday of every month. There will be multiple blocks per month, but they will have similar techniques. Go at your own paste - no shame allowed if you don't get the blocks done that month.

I will make a FaceBook group for us to post our fabric picks, progress, and celebrations. 

Are you in? Its free, (except for pattern and fabric), its low pressure, and will be lots of fun. Let me here from you!

Curious about the Wonder Curve Ruler? Here's your chance.

 

Jumping on the Temperature Quilt Bandwagon - Getting Ready

 I've decided to jump on the Temp Quilt Bandwagon. In fact I'm going to be the the wagon master - I'm leading a SewAlong starting in January 2022. I've created a FB group called 2022 Temperature Quilt SAL with Denise - so feel free to join the group and sew with us.

What is a Temperature Quilt and why would I want to do one? I started seeing Tempestry projects which are knitted representations of location and temperature, a visual to show how temperatures are rising. I was immediately intrigued and started experimenting with how to do this as a quilt. 

Since the tempestry projects allocate a row per day, the maker ends up with a nice small/medium sized wall hanging. When I thought about this same format in fabric, I thought about .5 inch row per day x 365 days = 183 inches. Too long! So next I decided to do every 3 days - that cut it down to about 60 inches. OK, so manageable. I decided to do the first year of my life and got the data from NOAA for Santa Clara California for October 1957 - October 1958. 

I picked out some cool batik fabrics and then using a quilt as you go technique I started to sew a row for the temperature on every third day of the first year of my life. I didn't get very far.

Fast forward xx years. Temperature quilts are the IN THING. I kept procrastinating until this year, I'm finally going to do it. And to help me with accountability, i decided to do a SewAlong. 

The first thing I need to do now, before the year starts, is to get prepared. So, today I'm figuring out what format to use, how many fabrics to use to represent, and get my organization charts ready. I'll get fabrics next week.

I have a Temperature Board on Pinterest with all kinds of different blocks that would work for a Temp Quilt. OVERWHELM! I like them all  (these are not my quilts). Check out my board for ideas for your Temp Quilt!

 

Since I just took a Flying Geese class from Sally Jennings, during which I used the Bloc_Loc ruler, I've decided to do the flying geese version. The high temp will be the "goose" and the low temp the "sky".  If I want to I can make one of the sky pieces white if it rains. The Bloc_Loc ruler is a great ruler to use if you are making scrappy flying geese. Since I have the  2 by 4 inch ruler, that will make a perfect size  - about 48 by 60 inches. If you want to get one, check out their website. Decision Made!

I spent about an hour making a fabric swatch chart and a daily recording and progress chart. Shoot me an email at djps1957@gmail.com if you want me to send you a copy.

Next week comes the fun part - assigning fabric to temperature ranges. Can't wait!