Linear Rainbow Ombre Quilt

I just recently finished a quilting project that I just love. Let me preface this by saying I am not an avid quilter. I have made 8-10 quilts over the years but like with most of my hobbies I rarely dedicate myself to one thing. This newest quilt I made for my husband and it has a little bit of a tale to it, so I thought I’d share.

As most of you know my husband Chuck was in the U.S. Army for 27 years. The quilt below I made in 2001 before he left for his first unaccompanied tour. For those who don’t know, an unaccompanied tour is a tour where family members do not accompany the soldier, unlike a deployment they are not necessarily to a combat zone but are usually overseas and can range from 12 months to 36 months. That first tour was to Honduras, a 12-month tour that ended up lasting 18 months. I made this quilt so he would have something from home to take with him. It was made from scraps of fabric from other sewing projects mostly clothes I’d made for the kids or myself. It was not a fancy quilt, just small squares with strip binding that I quilted on a regular sewing machine.

Well fast forward 20 years, the quilt has been to Honduras, Columbia, Egypt, Iraq (twice), Jordan, Kuwait, Germany, Poland, Montenegro, Croatia, and all across America. It is affectionately referred to as the “Thunder Blanket.” Like a thunder shirt you would put on your dog, it helps with separation anxiety, travel stress, fear of thunder and other loud noises, and other anxieties. Basically it’s meant to be a shelter from the storm and a reminder of home. Unfortunately, time and travel have taken their toll on the old “Thunder Blanket.” I’ve done darning and repairs but I thought it might be time to replace the old one with something fresh.

My husband retired from the Military in September of 2018 so he is done with deployments but he still travels overseas regularly. That means the new quilt will be seeing almost as many sites as the old one, so I wanted it to be special.

The original quilt was made at a time we didn’t have a lot of money so the free scraps of my other sewing projects were the only thing in my budget but they were meaningful. This go-round I had a few more dollars to invest but I still wanted the fabrics to mean something without being too girlie. I hunted around until I ran across Carolyn Friedlander’s Architextures. The fabrics are a collection of architectural graphics patterns, topography, and architectural handwriting. I was drawn to this collection because the fabrics represent me and what I do, and the handwritten print actually looks a lot like my handwriting.

To save time I bought these fabrics in two different Jelly Rolls, which means the fabric is already cut into 2″ x 45″ strips. For the borders and the backing, I bought three yards of sheeting which come 108″ wide so you don’t have to seam the back. The links to purchase are below.

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I cut the long strips into random lengths and put three or four different colors into each row creating the Ombre illusion, slowly fading from one color to the next. You can see the individual strips a little clearer in the photo below, before the top was quilted.

Once the top was completed I took it to a local quilt shop that was able to quilt it on their long arm machine. This is a more expensive option but it gives it much more intricate and tightly sewn quilting than I could ever achieve on my traditional sewing machine. I’m also hoping that the tight quilting will help the quilt hold up a little longer than the last one.

Quilted and bound “Thunder Blanket 2.0” is ready for its maiden voyage, which I’m told may be to Egypt. Where ever it goes, it goes with go with love and hopefully offers the same security and luck as its predecessor.