dreaming in Dottie

What did you do last weekend? I got to start a new quilt, which is such a lovely privilege. I have embarked on another scrap quilt, this time rainbow-oriented.

Sometimes I am inspired by quilts that I have particularly enjoyed making in the past. Two of my all-time most fun makes were Dear Dottie and Rainbow Over Head, both scrap quilts. So, let’s take these ideas to PreQuilt and see what happens if they merge - - -

Introducing Dear Roy (short for ROYGBIV: red-orange-yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet). It’s the same Tilda Solids Peacock background as my Rainbow Over Head quilt and with a similar rainbow layout, but in Dear Dottie dots. I like! And that is actually my first design for the 30 Days of Quilt Design challenge!

Before I could step away from PreQuilt, I played around with a number of alternative variations. That’s the thing - it’s just so easy to experiment when you have designed in PreQuilt. Well friends, I surprised myself by falling in love with a design on WHITE.

What, really?!? I never sew on solid white; but, for some reason I am convinced. Maybe because it’s summer? Maybe because it looks so yummy graphically? Well, whatever the reason for this change of heart, here comes a scrappy, dottie rainbow on white.

Cutting out rainbow scraps is one of my favorite parts of such a project. To make it even more pleasurable, I can use the nice acrylic templates from my Dear Dottie pattern. I am sewing the exact same circle block from my Dear Dottie quilt for this project. These custom templates are still available here.

It’s been years since I have sewn this pattern. I am pleasantly reminded of how user-friendly it is as regards the curved sewing. The pattern is designed to be trimmed after sewing the curves and after sewing the units together to complete a block. Such trimming helps to create perfect circles, even if you struggle with curved piecing.