So, let’s chat about the weather! Ha! I feel like I am slightly obsessed with the weather. Are you?! Please tell me I am not alone in this need to know and talk about the weather on a daily basis!
I am really excited that for 2023 I get to talk about the weather for an actual reason, Temperature Cross Stitch! What is a Temperature Cross Stitch you ask? Let me tell you! Temperature Cross Stitching and Quilting is when you record the weather through thread or fabric for an entire calendar year.
You start by creating a temperature chart, breaking down the temperature into 5 -7 degree ranges. For example, 0*F – 5*F, 6*F – 10*F, etc. Colder climates might add extra categories in the negative degrees, while warmer climates might add extra categories in the triple digits. Once your temperatures ranges have been created, you will go ahead and assign a color to each range, going from dark to light or cool tones to warm tones. Rainbows color order is often used with red representing your hottest temps and moving through to dark blues to represent your coldest temperatures. There is no right or wrong answer to this step, pick the colors you love! Just make sure you can see a difference in color from range to range so you don’t have one giant blob of the same color at the end!
Next, pick your pattern! There are loads of Temperature Cross Stitch patterns out in cross stitching world! A quick Google or Etsy search should get you want to be! Fat Quarter Shop is my go to for most supplies and where I got my pattern for this year’s Temperature Cross Stitch.
Many Patterns will come with a temperature guide and color choices if you aren’t up for creating your own! Which I totally get and totally appreciate!
Okay, so lets review our Temperature Cross Stitch process…
- Temperature ranges designated
- Color palette chosen
- Pattern Picked and Printed
Next step in the Temperature Cross Stitch Process…recording the weather! Record the high and low temperatures for each day in your town or closest city. I live in a Northwest suburb of Chicago and will be using the temperatures recorded at O’Hare International Airport which is about 15 miles away.
I do feel that consistent temperature recording will be my biggest struggle on this year long process, but thankfully the internet can get me caught up quickly if I fall behind.
Let’s review our process one more time..
- Temperature ranges designated
- Color palette chosen
- Pattern picked and printed
- Temperature recording habit created
Now it is time for the best part, cross stitching! You can stitch project daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, whatever works for you and your cross stitching schedule. I will be stitching weekly on Sunday. I feel that is a realistic goal. A solid week of temperature recording with . Now it is only the second week of January 2023, so we shall see how long this lasts!
Hopefully, I am Temperature Cross Stitching every Sunday for 52 weeks!
Okay, lets get to the nitty gritty details of my 2023 Temperature Cross Stitch project. Apart from purchasing the pattern, I decided to use floss and fabric from my stash!
Pattern: Fat Quarter Shop’s Temperature Cross Stitch pdf pattern. The pattern came with temperature tracking pages for each month, 3 different temperature rangers (warm, cold, wide ranges) with colorways for all three! And the pattern is a super cute heart! I am a Fat Quarter Shop junkie, so this was a no brainer!
Fabric: 16 ct. Pale Grey Gingham by Fabric Flair. This is an exclusive cold with Fat Quarter Shop, I have used it for so many projects, but why I had 16 ct instead of 14 ct will remain a mystery! I know I bought it for something… So I am going to use it here! The fabric is so soft and so pretty.
Get your Fabric here: 16 ct. 14 ct.
Floss: Using my stash of Classic Color Works! I matched the Classic Colors Works floss colors to those on the temperature charts provided in the pattern. And I am using the Wide Temperature Range. You never know what you will get in Chicago!
I get all my Classic Color Works from Fat Quarter Shop! Told you I was a junkie.
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