I’m starting with another big thank you today to everyone who has bought my book so far! And the Aurifil Moon Trees collection! It’s been a wonderful launch and I’m so grateful for all your support and enthusiasm about the book!
I wanted to focus on the Temperature Quilt aspect of the book in this post and finally reveal my latest Temperature Quilt which I started last year. This is the Witches Sabbat Temperature Quilt!
The idea behind this quilt was to use the witches or Celtic/Pagan calendar to divide the year up in a different way to the usual months/weeks/days. As I discuss in the book, I have always felt a bit ‘witchy’ or at the very least ‘witch adjacent’ and in recent years this has become a more acceptable thing and I have felt comfortable enough to explore this world in more detail.
When I learnt that a Witch’s year is divided into eight sections known as ‘sabbats’ this sparked the idea for a new temperature quilt approach.
The Witches Sabbat Temperature Quilt is a giant nine-patch with eight sections forming a ring and a blank centre block. The motif is an improv triangle and I used my Freehand Foundation piecing technique to create large blocks with as many days as needed. The Witch’s year begins at Samhain on the 31st of October which is found at the top left edge of the top left block.
I used historical data from Weather Underground to find out the highest and lowest temperatures from 31st October 2022 to 30th October 2023, with the triangle being the highest temperature and the background the lowest with the lines of triangles ‘snaking’ from left to right over each Sabbat. I also used all patterned fabric pulled from my stash.
I started this in my two week ‘holiday’ last July and finished it in April. It took a while to decided how to quilt it because of that large empty space in the centre. I wanted to keep the effect of the giant ring or spikes but needed something interesting to keep some balance.
Aurifil variegated threads came to the rescue! I used 3 different shades (orange, turquoise, red) of 40/3 cotton to quilt a ‘random plaid’ grid over the whole thing using my Handi Quilter MoxieXL.
I then added lines of hand quilting to just the centre using Aurifil 12wt cotton in the same variegated shades. I love the almost woven look this gives with the colour disappearing and then reappearing.
It was a bit of a risk using the variegated thread over the off-white background in the centre but I think the gamble definitely paid off.
In my new book, Journey to the Centre of a Quilter, I have devoted a whole chapter to temperature quilts as well as a resources section with lots of advice about getting started on your own temperature quilt. And then there is a pattern for a small temperature project to get you going!
This is the Special Day Mini Quilt which depicts just one month rather than a whole year. The month in question is November 2024 which includes a special day for me, my 35th wedding anniversary on the 24th.
The project uses a simple circle sewn to a background square with the circle the highest temperature and the background the lowest, as seen in both my original Weather Bubble Temperature Quilt and the Temperature Fabric Book (both also featured in the new book).This enables me to share my methods for achieving perfect needle turn appliqué circles.
As a subtle nod to the significance of this month I used hand quilting to ‘cross out’ every day with black thread and then circled the 24th with red as you would with a paper calendar if you had something exciting to look forward to.
I could have written a whole book on temperature quilts (perhaps I will one day) but I do hope that the info in this book acts as a useful introduction to the whole subject.
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Don’t forget I’m offering a 10% off pre-order discount until 14th July AND a set of exclusive Dream Bird stickers if you order by 30th June!
Love the 2022 Temperature Quilt!
Is the Witches Sabbat Temperature Quilt in the book? Thank you!