Temperature Quilts

 

Temperature quilts are quilts that use color to chart the daily temperatures for a given location over a predetermined time frame. The time frame could be a month or a year, and you can start a temperature quilt on any day you wish. Temperature quilts can record both the daytime highs and the nighttime lows or just the daytime highs. 

The first step in making your own temperature quilt is to choose a pattern. There are a multitude of ideas on the internet, and Pinterest is a good place to start. Depending on the pattern you chose, a block can represent a day or a week. Ann chose to use rectangles in her quilt, Sue is using squares, and Jean is using triangles. 

Here are some websites with patterns or directions for patterns:

https://weallsew.com/how-to-make-a-temperature-quilt-part-one/

https://www.canuckquilter.com/2020/01/temperature-quilt-2020.html

https://mariebostwick.com/how-to-make-a-temperature-quilt/

https://darcyquilts.com/2022/10/20/how-to-make-a-temperature-quilt/

 

Each color in the quilt represents a temperature range, generally between 3 and 6 degrees. The smaller the range, the more colors would have to be selected for the quilt. You can use either prints or solids, but solids are a good choice because of the range of colors available. And if you use solids from one fabric line, you can reliably buy more fabric of a particular color if you run out. 

Very recently, Moda wrote a post on their blog (November 30) all about temperature quilts, complete with examples of temperature quilts and a discussion about fabric choices.

https://modafabrics.com/inspiration-resources/tempquiltintro

 

There are websites with weather archives that you can use to find your temperatures, such as wunderground.com, noaa.com, and timeanddate.com. Or you can record the daily temperatures for your area from the local weather channel.   

 

Other sources for information:

McCall's Quilting magazine Nov/Dec 2021

Quilting Arts Magazine Winter 22