2021 Temperature Quilt Is A Top!

Embroidering the temperature range

It took time. . .much more than I had anticipated; BUT, I finally was successful in figuring out how to embroider the temperature ranges as well as the word, "Temperatures" and the year, "2021."  

First, I spent time auditioning the size and font that I thought would work well for the temperature ranges. I decided that I would make two of each range so that I could repeat the legend on each side border of the quilt.

Building the legend border

Next, I printed the print preview and placed it as if it were the border. I found this was a great way to view the size as well as the font. I made several changes before I found "the one!" I stitched a sample. I liked it. I stitched all of the number ranges. I removed the stabilizers from the back of the fabric. I stitched the fabric that was associated with the number range together and built the border. 

Math is not a strength. I sent a photo to my London daughter asking if I had used the greater than/less than sign correctly. I asked, does this read as less than 18 degrees? She replied I was correct. 

Whoops. . .

I had the borders ready to stitch the borders to the sides of the quilt and I realized I was incorrect with using the greater than symbol. My husband was near by so I asked him if this read more than 105. . .he shook his head. I re-embroidered that temperature range. I'm glad I caught the error before it was "in" the quilt!

Too Big

Gertie, my inner squirrel, had the idea to place the temperature range from coldest to warmest on the left side of the top and to place the temperature range from warmest to hottest on the right side of the quilt. I liked her plan. Of course, she was happy I incorporated her suggestion into the quilt. I did have to add a bit of grey fabric to make the border fit.

After stitching the side borders to the top, it was time to work on the top and bottom borders. Again, I auditioned the font size of the letters until I was happy with the size of the lettering. 

Rehopping alignment

I had a hiccup. I couldn't figure out how to access the fill stitch feature in the software. For those of you who don't work with embroidery software, I'll spare you the details. For those of you who do, I hadn't used the break apart feature enough! 

I placed a note in the Bernina software group asking for help and I also e-mailed my Bernina dealer.  My dealer called me fifteen minutes after I had sent the e-mail. She said it was easter and faster to just tell me what I needed to know. I had my answer in less than two minutes! 

In a couple hours, I had several responses from the software group. They provided the same answer as my dealer. I appreciated ALL of their help!

Finished top

I embroidered the year first. My original thought was to center the year in the bottom border and the word in the top border. Embroidering the word took me a full day because I needed to rehoop the design. I practiced until I felt that I would be successful.

When it was time to reboot. I had no issues. I have rarely rehooped a design. I would do it again. Viewing the stitch out, it seemed too plain to add more of the gray background. I was looking at the scraps I thought, "why not add a portion of strings" to finish the border. Gertie was on board with that idea!

I cut the leftovers of the strips into strings. I followed the color order as much as was possible and stitched the strings together. The result reminded me of colors in a crayon box. I decided that I wanted a little more than one repeat of the strings of the years and word.

Next I followed the pattern of reversing the colors as I had done with the side borders. I liked the results. I stitched the top and bottom border to the top and I had a finished top! 

Wahoo!

I've located a piece of fabric for the back and I might have enough batting on hand to layer and baste this project yet this month. Finishing this top was goal number four on my February list.

I'm linking to Cynthia and Oh Scrap/Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework. For some reason, Blogger is giving me a Whoops message when I try to comment on her posts. I also get that message when I visit other links in the link up. So if I haven't commented on your post in a while, that is the reason. I've reviewed my settings and didn't note any changes.