I did that with my ironing board. A friend gave me a wool blanket that she'd gotten at a thrift store. I washed and dried it to shrink it, cut two layers to fit the board, and made a cover from a pretty floral sheet. It's the best pad/cover combo I've ever had on my board.
This is the board that I use to iron clothes, not for quilting.
I did make a big board with one layer of wool yardage, for quilting. That works well too.
There's no smell with either of them.