Modern Nuno Baby Quilt!

Painting by Paul Klee

It still feels strange to say it (since I feel so young and all!), but I'm going to be a grandparent soon! My stepson and his wife are expecting their first child, and I wanted to make something special that they'll hopefully use and keep.  I decided that a quilt-like, lightweight blanket would be fun to make with felt, and I was inspired by the painting above...

First I died some big pieces of silk paj in varying shades of blues and green, along with two huge pieces of hand-dyed silk chiffon that I overlapped slightly before laying on fine merino wool and tussah silk.  I cut and tore the silk paj into 5 x 5" pieces (132 of them, to be exact!), and laid them out so that the colors varied randomly.  I then wet it out and used the tumble-dryer method to felt it, then threw and scrunched it to full it.  The turquoise tussah silk seemed to run forever, but I finally got it to rinse clear!  (Turquoise always runs for a while, and my hands sure showed it!)

Silk pieces laid out on the base of chiffon, merino and tussah silk

Back of finished blanket

Close-up of finished blanket

The final product, a modern nuno baby quilt!  I sewed on a little tag, and tied on one of my sheep cards.  I think they liked it, and I can't wait to see that new little bundle of joy wrapped up in this!