Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Utility wool quilt

I am in the process of making a wool quilt for my brother. He tours with rock bands and depending on who he with, he either flies to each show or they take buses. He now is with Ray LaMontagne and they are using buses. In the past, my brother said how cold the buses can get traveling between shows so he wanted a wool quilt.

I dug out the wool quilt I had started for him several years ago. He hadn't needed the quilt since he had been flying. Now that he is back on buses, I got to work and finished the top, pin basted it, and started quilting on it.

The top is an extra long twin made from wool suiting samples that I got from a tailor years and years ago. I decided on a simple block and sewed a lighter strip in the center of two darker strips. The blocks finished 7".

The backing is a mix of an old army blanket and wool that I had in my stash. The wool blanket is sentimental to my brother as it had come from our Mom's father. The blanket had some holes in it which I patched the bigger ones. The smaller ones I will patch once the quilt is quilted. The wool blanket is under the package of batting.

The binding will be the wool from a pair of our Dad's trousers. Dad passed away in March of 2015. and I saved a pair of wool pants just for this quilt.

I am free motion stitch in the ditch quilting this quilt. It is a heavy quilt with the wool backing, fluffy wool batting and the wool top. I have about half the quilting done.

I need to have this quilt done by November 2. My plan is to get this done this coming weekend. My brother will be in Toledo on the 3rd and I may get to go and see him. If not I will pass it off to another brother who will be going. Since the weather is now turning cold I am sure my brother will be glad to get this nice heavy, warm quilt for his bunk on the bus.



3 comments:

Ann said...

Your inclusion of pieces from your grandfather and father is masterful and make this personally meaningful for your entire family. Good luck with the finish date.
Thanks for linking an excellent example of a utility quilt with AHIQ using materials on hand, for a specific need and worked out as you progress.
Hope you're feeling better today.

audrey said...

There's just something about wool. Love the utility look to it and the durability is unmatched. So sweet to have sentimental pieces included. I'm sure it will mean even more!

Kaja said...

Good luck meeting your deadline - knowing your work rate I feel optimistic that you will get there. I love the look of this and agree with Ann that using pieces from your family makes it extra special.