Felted Sweater Patchwork Quilt

I've been collecting wool sweaters for a couple years now and finally decided to make the quilt I've had my heart set on.  Some of the sweaters came from the thrift store and some were passed along to me because they had been shrunk or had a moth hole or two.  I love that this quilt is made almost entirely of sweaters that would likely have headed for the bin otherwise.  I felted the ones that were not already shrunken - all I had to do to felt them was put them in my ( top loading) washing machine with hot water and a tiny bit of dish soap, I let them agitate until they were shrunken enough then spun them and hung to dry.  I do have a tendency to overfelt sometimes because I have too many other things on the go (and, apparently, a short attention span) and I forget to check on the felting progress but I've decided to keep the superfelted sweaters for making thick, warm slippers.  Here is a bit of information on felting in case you are wondering more. 

Once they were dry I decided on how I wanted my quilt to look.  I wanted to have some big squares (all the less sewing and cutting to do) and some random-ish squares.  I decided to use one of my cutting boards as a template for the big squares and then I used a mandarin orange box lid for my smaller squares.  Two of the (smaller side of the) box lid blocks would equal one length of the cutting board squares ( I know that doesn't seem to make sense but hopefully it will once you see the photo) 

By using the width of the box lid but making the "smaller squares" any length I could have my random look without having to fuss much.  The beige block here is my cutting board size and you can see that for every block that size I used two of the smaller blocks across.

I planned out where I wanted my big blocks, because I didn't have too many I only used 3 per row (and alternated their positions) and then filled with smaller blocks (of all different lengths), mostly cutting as I went - I was trying to use up most every bit of each sweater.  I put one strip together at a time and then sewed the finished strips together as each one was completed.  When I put my first strip together I immediately knew I would want to make a patchwork scarf with any leftever bits.  Here is the first strip...

in progress

 and here it is at 6 strips wide.  This is Just the right size for wrapping around me for movie watching on cold evenings but...I still have a few more big blocks so I think I'll make it at least one strip bigger so that I can share if needed.  Perhaps I can convince all the males in my family to watch one of my (favourite)shows with me if I offer to share my quilt with them??  And since it was almost getting dark and the colours weren't showing up very well inside...

I asked W to take an outside photo for me.  I haven't even clipped the threads off but I can tell you that I will already be using this tonight.  I love the warmth and softness of the felted wool and I especially love being able to re-use something old to make something new.  So fun

 
(You can click on the photo to enlarge it)
I couldn't resist using a couple of blocks with the pockets still on from an old cardigan - now, some people might think that would be handy for holding the TV remote but I'm thinking it looks just the right size for a big bar of chocolate. ;-)  Could I be any better prepared for an evening or four of Pride and Prejudice?  I think not.