What you have is a chenille bedspread. They were popular during the mid century. I used to have one with a peacock on it as a child. It is made a design punched into muslin with a cotton thread and then everything is washed to secure the thread by shrinking the fabric around it. It does not look like what we call chenille now days. Here is a link with some information.
http://web.mac.com/judithgreason/VIN..._CHENILLE.html