I was first introduced to the idea of the “Temperature Quilt” by Vivika DeNegre editor of Quilting Arts Magazine, from her post on IG telling us that she was starting one. If you live under a rock like me, you may not have heard about this phenomenon sweeping the quilting world. The basic idea is that the quilt design is determined by the daily high and low temperatures of your local weather tracked for 1 year. Fabric colors are assigned to each temperature by the maker but the exact combination is determined by nature.
I was intrigued by the idea, but weather in Southern California?! we don’t have any, and it certainly is NOT something I track everyday. But something kept pokeing me and I started to think well, there IS something I DO track every.. single.. day. My weight. I weight myself every morning as soon as I get out of bed. OK, first I take my retainer out, brush my teeth, and relieve myself, then I weigh, but I thought that might be TMI. So I thought…. DAILY WEIGH QUILT !!!!
The goal: Document my weight loss journey in a fun way, track my weight for a 1 year (OK, 330 days, better layout) and make a quilt based on the daily scale. I’ve selected a very simple triangle block. I like the idea that the block can point up, down or sideways to indicate a gain, loss or no change. Once I decided on a block, I had to determine the color palette. Choosing Feb 1, 2021 as my starting point, Feb 1 being the day I started a formal weight loss program after falling off weight watchers early in lockdown. On Feb 1, 2021 I weighed 190.6 lbs and my goal weight is 160. so that would require 30 shades, one to represent each pound. I want the color to move from dark to light in value and decided my best chance at finding 30 shades would be in blue, which is great, ‘cause I like blue, it’s a soothing happy color, so that was easy.
Next to determine the background color, I figured I would need 10 shades, 1 for each oz. My inspiration came by way of a scene from a Los Angeles opera production I worked on - a masquarade scene where everyone was wearing blues, greens, teals and aqua. I thought it was so beautiful, it has stuck with me for years ( but not the name of the opera, apparently) With teal and aqua falling into the blue category I decided on green for the background then came the fun of shopping! Fabric stores had just started opening again in California so I was very excited for my 1st chance to fabric fondle in-store in months! Roxane’s Wish and a Dream was on my way home, so I began my shopping there, this whole brainstorm having arrived while in Cayucos on a beach sewing retreat with my BFF.
It was surprisingly easy to collect the 40 fabrics I needed, but anticipating exactly how much I’ll need of each, not so easy…
When I sat down and charted the first 2 months of weight data I discovered something I had never realized after years of weighing myself, daily on a digital scale. It does not mark each ounce! My scale has 2 ounce increments - .0, .2, .4, .6, .8. HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THAT BEFORE? Now all the sudden I had 5 green fabrics too many! Still not knowing exactly how much fabric I would need, I decided to choose 5 fabrics and assign each a back-up from the leftovers, as a stand-in, in case the original ran out. I cut and pieced the 1st 2 rows of blocks and it looked pretty awful!! I really began to doubt my concept, but now that I have a few more rows up I’m a little more hopeful. Wish me luck reaching my goal, and I’ll keep you posted on the quilt!
