TanyaL

I am passing this information on from a friend to any who may be wanting or needing to make a quilt that is SUPER warm for this winter. My friend was thinking that in the hard economic times some may be sleeping in colder climes with their heat turned off. Here in Texas there are many sheep ranchers who have barns with wool fleece stored because it has cost more to sell the fleece than the market would pay for the fleece. Apparently my friend remembers her grandmother washing wool fleece, but not carding it or processing it in any other way, and using it as batting for quilts. She thinks the quilt top was probably made from pieces of old wool suits and the backing was flannel. The quilts were tied very closely. As a child she slept under these in a very drafty farmhouse with no heat and stayed toasty warm although water froze inside the house. Now that's a warm quilt!

If anyone wants to pass this info on to someone who is big into the "Back to the Green" movement, feel free. LOL I think we can personally pay for heat a little longer, but seriously, if someone thinks this idea would help them perhaps some help can be arranged in getting fleece , etc. It was 107 yesterday but who knows what winter will bring and many of our employed are not guaranteed their jobs. Oh, I sound like the trumpet of doom, but I just wanted to pass on the info and let you know I cared.

Chicca

Your caring nature really came through; even though I do not think I will be using your suggestion...it was informative and helpful. Thank you for sharing.

mom-6

I remember sleeping under Daddy's old wool army blanket on top of the regular quilt when it got really cold. My folks turned off the old gas 'clay front' heaters at night for safety concerns.

KathyKat

My Dad always brought home wool army blankets from the Fort surplus supply and they were toasty warm. we also had a couple of the Hudson Bay wool blankets and they were wonderful. I looked one up recently and the price for one is sky high!

Lacelady

I am fairly sure that kind of quilt was made in Australia at various points in history. Why not use it, if the wool is clean. Great idea.

Ramona Byrd

You have some good points that all should remember. With Mother Nature going crazy, we have no idea of what might be coming down the road. I'd say make those quilts, put them in plastic or something to prevent moths, and if not used, keep them, just in case.
When DH passed, I gave the kids almost all of our camping gear (at age almost 78 I'm not going to want to go camping again) but I did keep one mummy sleeping bag, just in case. And I do have warm quilts, just in case and because I love them. And have made warm ones for family young ones, big enough for them to use as couch throws to keep warm while watching TV.
Sometimes in plain rainy weather some of our electrical wires break, and we're without warmth for hours, so I'm making myself one (a couch throw) now. And will either sew, tie or snap the bottom together to keep my cold feet warmer.

tmg

I was talking to a lady last night about when she was a little girl they would pick the cotton that the cotton picker left behind and use that for their batting. they called it their quilting cotton.

TanyaL

My first husband's grandmother told me how, during the depression. when she first married that she made their mattress out of striped ticking fabric and filled it with cotton she gleaned in the fields after the pickers had already picked. She was still sleeping on that mattress in 1960 when I married her grandson. Every few years she would open it up, take the cotton out, fluff it up and restuff the mattress. Let's see - that would qualify as a frugal money saving hint, a "living green" hint, a recycling hint, what else? Man, I hope we don't see a depression like that. And she had sewn that mattress on a treadle sewing machine!

IAmCatOwned

I actually know someone who has a quilt like this. They tie it and whenever it needs to be washed, they have to remove all the ties, wash the batting and the quilt separately, and then tie it again. Fortunately, most quilts don't need to be washed all that often.

In my family, it was not uncommon to use an old blanket as the filling for a new quilt. One quilt had 3 different quilts inside of it.