Too Hot To Sew

(affiliate links to my designs)

I can't remember why I picked this particular color scheme when I began my 2026 digital temperature quilts, but I am rather liking it now. The color scheme. Not the theme. The theme, broken hearts, absolutely breaks my heart now. I had no idea when I began this project I would be spending at least 11 weeks with a heart so broken, it has been difficult sometimes to keep going on the project.

I am so thankful I decided before February ever hit that I didn't like the broken heart temperature squares and didn't continue them the whole year. I would have abandoned this project all together if it had been 12 months of broken hearts in mid-April.

I thought adding in colors for the weather conditions would be interesting when I first began this particular temperature project, one of four, but the only one with sky conditions. (And I neglected to add a color for smoke, which we've had heavily for nearly a month now!) Before the end of January, I no longer liked the idea. Perhaps I need a different color scheme for this to work, or perhaps I was just too easily bored by the same daily sky conditions over and over and over.

Now that I have six months complete, I wanted to create a cheater quilt panel on Spoonflower fabric, but I didn't want to do the broken hearts AT ALL. I confess, I hate those segments now.

I decided to make a few changes going forward. I decided not to delete the original project yet. But I decided I liked some of my edit screens so much, I made Spoonflower fabric of them. I did a six month version with revisions, too. I like all the new designs so much better than the original.

I will finish the original. I actually like the September and December segments. I might convert the January and April segments to similar designs one day. But for right now, I'm going to finish what I started. It might get permanently filed away. But that would be better than later regretting never finishing it.

Linking up with Alycia Quilts.

Tweet

End of the Line

She's done. 34 inches. And no more. For now.

I remember how excited I was when I first started Mercurina. I remember planning a whole family of temperature snakes. I truly loved this little lady until about halfway through February.

Our weather has changed. I did not like using the same colors over and over. I wanted a variety, I didn't do a crochet temperature project (or even a digital one, for that matter) last year because I wasn't sure life would allow me the luxury of daily upkeep. I thought things would be easier this year.

On the bright side, she's done. And even though she doesn't have as much color variety as a typical Colorado January and February would have provided, she is beautiful. It's possible I might start working on another snake if things quiet down a bit. But for now, she's an only lonely child, and I'm so thankful to be done with her.

Tweet

Slitherin'

I'm still tempted to put a tail on this gal because she's just getting too long to work with comfortably. Plus, I have those awesome name ideas for five sibblings... or five offspring...

I'll decide in a couple of weeks whether to bring her to an end on the 28th. It will depend how much she curls around me while I work. I can only take so much snake love... :)

In the meantime, I was playing with crocheted temperature snake prompts in AI, and some of the images of the freebie programs are HILARIOUS.

My paid subscription generated much better quality images, including this little video that I think is just adorable! Makes me want to create my own stop motion movie with my own crocheted critters!!!

Tweet

Decisions

Last week, I asked my friends and family if I should begin shaping the tail so I can bind off at the end of January, start a new snake on February 1, and finish the year with 12 little unique temperature snakes about two feet long each, or keep going and wind up with a 24-foot snake at the end of the year. I got two responses, one that whatever I do will be cute as can be, and the other a warning to be wary of making a long snake if the forever home might one day be a kid who might play tug of war with it... I must confess, I never considered that second possibility. My eyeballs are still sort of rattling around in my head over that.

I was leaning toward 12 little snakes because one month of growth would be easy to tote around if, by chance, we happen to go anywhere this year. Nothing planned, but I do still keep hoping Lizard might be able to handle another trip one day. I also considered the possibility of making each snake two months long, which would be a pretty cool finished length, in my opinion. I'd wind up with six very unique four-foot-long snakes.

My mind was made up a couple of days later when I saw, for the first time, Planet June's temperature snake CAL photo gallery. I decided I want my own long, long, very long snake!!!

But then a couple of days later, I was trying to come up with a name for my snake. And boy, have I seen some cute ones! Caution Ramen, Fang Ramen, Assault Ribbon, Speed Bump, Slithery Shoelace, Hiss Tube. Suddenly, I was back on the monthly or bi-monthly kick because I wanted to use all the cute names I came up with...

Psychedelic Angel Hair, Lumen Udon, Bulging Bucatini, Plump Pappardelle, Tallow Tagliatelle, Tubby Tube, Paunchy Pici, Roly Poly Tuffoli, Stocky Gnocci, Stout Kraut, Chubby Buddy... I bet I could stay up all night and coin new names!

I briefly considered calling "her" (I think I've decided my snake is female... maybe so she can be bigger than whatever other temperature snakes I create, and she can be the mama mamba...) Desi because there are just too many decisions to make!!! I toyed with the idea of naming her Fredrica, Freddy for short, and I hope you pick up on the connection. I finally named her Mercurina. Because that's so much prettier than Mercury. And I've still got more than a handful of cute names for her offspring!

Tweet

Couldn't Stay Away Too Long

(affiliate links to my designs)

Seeing all the other completed temperature projects others have been posting on Instagram and in online Temperature Quilt groups infected me once again. Oh, boy, I got it bad!

I started out with just a thread crochet temperature snake because that didn't seem like too much of a commitment, and I could use up all my old Lizbeth variegated threads to boot. It will be an interesting project, but I fell in love with it on January 1, and I still today have NO regrets whatsoever. The best part is that I don't even have to do the whole year. If I get tired of it, or it gets too long (I'm doing three rounds of single crochet for each high and each low to better show off each colorway), I can begin the tail and finish it in probably four or five days. Or I can stop and begin a new temperature snake, perhaps even changing up the color scheme... Wouldn't it be cute to have a collection of 12 unique little temperature snakes?!?

By January 2, the temperature project craze had fully engulfed me, and I started a new digital temperature quilt. The idea came to me because I've been trying to create a new valentine card almost every day to launch my new Zazzle card shop. I finally incorporated daily conditions, too, which I'm so loving so far. It's coming out so adorable, I started another new digital temperature quilt a couple of days later.

Four days later, I started yet another. And the next day, oops, I did it again.

So now, after a full year-long break, I have five totally new ongoing temperature projects for 2026, and I still have no regrets. They are all projects I can work on quietly while Lizard sleeps. I feel no pressure. I'm so glad I talked myself into this, and I can hardly wait until the end of the year! But not because I'm tired of any of them. I just think they are all so stinking cute!!!

Tweet

Goals

It feels a bit refreshing and yet sad to not engage upon a new year-long commitment tomorrow. I'm not tired of temperature quilts. I'm still quite thrilled by them. I still look forward to the day I can do a real fiber temperature quilt, either yarn or fabric. At this point, either would suffice. But I have to be realistic.

2024 ranks right up there with 2020 to me. There are so many blessings, and we've come so far. But this was a really hard year, and quite frankly, I'm grateful it's almost gone. Don't let the door slap ya on the behind on your way out.

So, what are my goals for 2025?

I haven't even thought about it yet. I guess I want to read scriptures to Lizard daily. I want to keep up on his speech therapy. I want to keep up on his physical therapy. I'd like him to start coloring again. I'd like him to start blogging again. We've started walking daily again, and I want with all my heart to stick to the calendar on that. I'd like both of us to get back on our bikes, even if only around the block. But more frequently than once every two months or three months.

I was never anti-resolutions, and I don't think I am now. But I'm afraid to set any personal goals right now other than these because Lizard is my priority. When it comes right down to it, none of the yarn, fabric, photos or computer keystrokes mean diddly squat if it means redirecting my attention away from him. So I guess that's my resolution for 2025. I'm going to be there for him when he needs me. And for now, that's enough.

Tweet

Eclipsed

I didn't incorporate an eclipse block last year into any of my digital temperature quilts, and I didn't do anything special with the eclipse day motif in my 2023 crochet temperature project. We had less eclipse this year than we had last year, and I was working, to boot. But I got it in my head I needed to do an eclipse block, and I just couldn't let go of the idea. I'm pretty happy now I played with my projects. I like most of what I got!

My 2024 digital batik temperature quilt is sort of a mockup of how I plan to use up my stash of leftover charm squares in a real quilt one day when I have time to make a real quilt. After last year's digital rainbow temperature quilt, I wasn't sure I wanted to do another rainbow. I didn't like the red and orange in the project. The finished project is growing on me now. I had a Zazzle T-shirt printed with the design, and it's a real hit when I wear it in public.

I definitely love the 2024 digital batik temperature quilt a lot more now than I undoubtedly will like it once we hit orange and red temperatures this summer. But I'm hoping this project will slowly worm its way back into my heart once it's done, and then I'll know it's okay to make a real fabric quilt with a rainbow temperature scale.

I was certain I had created a snowflake to commemorate our 2017 eclipse adventure, but I apparently did not. I thought maybe I could substitute my 2022 event horizon-inspired snowflake, which I've now discovered I never actually worked up, even though I had a great idea when the singularity was first photographed. I searched my snowflake stash and decided my Seek Snowflake would suffice.

My 2024 digital batik snowflake temperature quilt uses the same color scheme from my 2023 crochet temperature project, and I still absolutely adore it. I have a collection of turquoise, green, rose and purple batiks I plan to use in a real quilt one day, and this digital project is sort of a mockup of what that might look like. I'm even tempted to appliqué real crocheted snowflakes to make the most fabulous real quilt ever. My digital project makes me yearn for the day I can get back to sewing on a regular basis.

I decided to try something a little different this year with a different color scheme for each season in one digital temperature quilt. I was so happy when the first day of spring fell on the first block of a new row.

I wasn't so sure I liked the idea after the first four or five spring blocks. Now I'm into my second row of spring, and I think the summer palette is going to knock this thing out of the park. I'm no fan of hot weather, but I can't wait to see what the next color scale will look like next to spring. And I'm a little anxious for warmer overnight temperatures right now, not only for my garden, but also to see how the spring rows will look when they begin getting a bit darker.

My favorite 2024 digital temperature quilt, of course, is the blue one. I really think this would be an outstanding real fabric quilt. Expecially with appliquéd snowflakes!

I'm working up a digital fat quarter, as well as a yard, to print via Spoonflower. The yard will be the whole year. The fat quarter segment will be finished faster. Perfect for the low-patience level I'm running right now drooling over this project. I estimate the fat quarter will be done in about three months, and I think I may have to make a dress or coat out of this fabric once printed!!!

Tweet