maviskw

It's been 17 below in Wisconsin this past week, and below zero a lot since the middle of November.
After reading all these posts, it seems three things stand out to make quilts warmer:
Wool batts.
Tied, not machine quilted.
Layers of quilts, with wool nearest the sleeper.

I have a purchased comforter with a machine quilted quilt on top. That's warm enough most nights. But sometimes, I'm just freezing, which has nothing to do with the weather or the temperature. It's just me. (It's probably because I've been sitting around doing nothing for a few hours.) Then I layer on my heavy wool afghan. That does it.

meanmom

I sometimes buy the fleece when it is a good sale and use it for batting in some on my quilts. Last time they had a good sale I bought a whole bolt of white fleece. It is cheaper and warmer than quilt batting. I must admit I have never used wool. I have some for a quilt I am making now for my DD who is always cold. The fleece is only 60 inches wide so I do have to piece it sometimes.

petpainter

My kind of Woman!!!

117becca

My quilts aren't warm either - nor do i expect them to be. Granted, I only use cotton batting. But, if i want really warm, then it's going to be layers - and hauling out my wool blanket from years gone by. My one "quilt" that is the warmest is warm because the back of it is flannel. The top - which is scrappy w/ pieces of wool, corduroy, and flannel only has an old flannel sheet in between the layers.

For me, warmth is added w/ fuzzy type materials, not smooth cottons.

GreyQ

If you want to stay warm, get silk long underwear. Lots of good ideas here, but with the Siberian Express bearing down on us, you want warm right now and that means layering, your clothes & quilts. Layer quilts with a wool blanket and layer shirts & sweaters with a down vest. You can even layer socks. Wear a hat, especially a double knit or wool hat, even inside. Remember that when you just sit or lay down, you're not generating as much body heat as when you're moving so you can feel colder. Hang quilts over your windows & walls. It's beautiful insulation. When all else fails, turn up the heat.

donnajean

I have a very light weight comforter on my bed that has an embridered poly top. The poly keeps the heat in as my thermostat is set on 64 at nite. When we went to minus 4 nite before last, I just laid my poly robe on top & I was still plenty warm. So, I think at least one side being poly would make a good quilt for these cold nites.

kydeb

Don't have a solution for you but I will say fleece is plain warm! I have fleece sheets on my bed (not flannel) and at night I turn my heat down to 55. In a 55 degree house, it gets hot in there and I have to throw the fleece back sometimes. And I don't have a lot of other things on the bed - just a thin bedspread (no quilt because my dog sleeps up there) and a thin blanket for her to lay on to keep the spread from getting too dingy - it's a lot easier too to wash the blanket vs spread Also, the spreads aren't really made to wash often. Anyway, how about backing it with fleece? I've done that and the people I've given them too love them.

Judi in Ohio

Have any of you seen the blankets for sale on the side of the road? Usually wild designs! My son was at a show and outside this show were vendors set up on the streets. One was a guy with these blankets. My son loved the feel of them so he bought one for the family. They spent the next year fighting over that blanket. And googling to try and find more. He couldn't find them. At this years show the guy was back. My son bought three and I bought four. One for a friend who's house does not heat well. I have a Sherpa on my bed and I'm here to tell you, if you don't get warm with that blanket you have a problem. It is fairly light, polyester and snugly soft.

eparys

Wool is my favorite for warmth up here in the frozen north reaches of the US. However that being said I have two enormous rolls of W&N currently in my sewing room so most of my quilts are done with that. It was -18 degrees F here the other night and our setback is to 60 on our thermostat at night. My "winter quilt" has W&N with open (not dense) quilting but what adds to the warmth is a wonderful cozy backing of flannel. The flannel adds warmth as well as keeps it from slipping around on the bed! I also have a light weight cotton blanket and flannel sheets under it lol - but the combination keeps me warm.

mcar

Quilting is a rather new enterprise for me. My goal is 12 quilts for my bed, one for each month of the year. I have not reached the goal but this is what I have noticed as far as warmth. My quilts use 100 % cotton batting The absolute warmest which I cannot use in summer has 153--2 1/2" half square triangles....this has lots of seams. The seams add weight and warmth. The lightest one has large blocks, each with border sashing, and that is not as warm. I have just put a Kaffe Fassett quilt with his stripes-the Handkerchief Quilt, on the bed. The top is woven fabric and is light weight. The backing is a regular quilting weight, the whole quilt does have medium quilting which adds weight so it is fine here. If it really gets cold and I have a"cooler" quilt on the bed, I lay a small wool hand knit blanket over my feet. Or I use wool bedsocks that I knit for this purpose and end up taking them off during the night. When I was only knitting I heard that quilters knit too....are you one of those? Socks are fun to knit. I think the wool socks will be in use this winter, last year was not cold enough for me to put them on!