Sound Quilt

My husbands Grandfather has a birthday coming up, he'll be turning 92!!
He has a super attitude towards aging, recently though, he has been losing his eye sight.
It has been a HUGE stumbling block for him, and he's having a hard time coping... 

I created this sound quilt for him, hoping to convey our love for him, and engage his other senses.
Making this has forced me to explore some of my other senses, and my hope is that it will challenge you in similar ways.

Push the buttons sewn in to the blocks and sounds and quotes come alive!

The blocks are made of very different types of fabric, some soft, some rough,
some woven and some stretchy, so that he could distinguish them by touch.

Step 1: Feel Your Way Thought the Fabric Store

This part took perhaps more time than I expected, but was a really interesting experience. 

I walked down aisle at the fabric store, closing my eyes sometimes, just looking away others, and just tried to feel the fabrics. I was immediately drawn to the soft fleeces, and the luxurious velvet (bought a really small piece of that). But the quilt couldn't feel all the same, so I also found some suede, and synthetics, and at home I added denim, and burlap from a rice bag for a rough texture.

Not only did I want the feels to be different, but I wanted the colors to be contrasty enough when placed next to each other, so that the Grandpa could still use the little bit of eyesight he has. 

So in total I have 9 different feeling fabrics.  And a larger piece of fabric to use for the back and border. 

Also needed for the sewing portion:

• cotton batting
• ruler
• Velcro (less than an inch)
• safety pins
• sewing machine (although it would be beautiful by hand)
• scissors

Comments

[TheDoze]

Good for you, your husband's grand father looks happy as can be with his new quilt. You should be proud of yourself!

[AlpineButterfly]

He really was :-)
And family really liked helping making all the sounds!
Thank you.

[aj770]

thats amazing!

[ivanjacob]

i hope you wil win the contest!

[bfk]

I don't make quilts and barely sew, but I was looking through the competition for this month's contest and read your beautifully written Instructable. It is easy to understand, has great photos and seems complete in every detail. More importantly, it was done for the right reasons.

The best of luck to you in the Monthly Challenge.

[AlpineButterfly]

Thank you SOOOO much for that comment. I try hard to make these projects fun & reproducible, and often wonder, how well I've managed. :-)

[ChrysN]

This is wonderful! Nicely done.

Though I don't believe what you say about soldering ;)

[AlpineButterfly]

I didn't either till I tried it ... :)
Thank you.