Introducing Dottie

Dottie is a quirky little doll quilt I found at a thrift store in January.  She measures about 18" x 26".  I found her irresistible and brought her home.  When you find a quilt with so many polka dots what else could you call her but Dottie?

Other than the bow ties, the only repetition or pattern I can see are the red-dot fabrics between each block and the long strips of sashing between the rows of blocks. 

The hand-stitched blocks are approximately 2" finished.  Some are more rectangular than square. 

Lori of Humble Quilts uses the word "humble" to describe quilts that are less than perfectly made.  This is a humble quilt for sure.

In fact, when I look at some of the blocks and, really, the whole quilt, I have to wonder who made it.  Was it a child's early attempt at sewing bow tie blocks with five pieces of fabric (instead of the six commonly used these days) and set-in seams?

Or perhaps an aged grandmother with less than perfect eyesight made it for her granddaughter?  There are puckers throughout the quilt where one piece of fabric was gathered to fit against another.  Before rotary cutters and acrylic rulers cutting accurately was an art.

The ties feel like wool and have wool's fuzzy appearance.

The quilt was folded and probably laying where sunlight hit the fold.  There are sections of faded fabric.

As if red dots weren't enough, there are also blocks with turquoise dots.

You can see that some of the fabric had already been used in clothing.  It was unstitched but not all threads were removed.  There are several seersucker fabrics in the quilt.

The backing is a very soft flannel.  It is pulled around to the front to make the binding.  I suspect there is a layer of flannel between the top and back but without unstitching some of the binding I would have no way of knowing.

The stitches holding the binding in place are long with no attempt to hide them under the fabric.

I can't tell the age of the fabrics but I'm guessing 1940s and 1950s, possibly even 1960s.  Do you have a guess?

I haven't chosen a place for Dottie to reside yet.  For now, she rests on the back of chairs or lays on a little table.  She's not really my "style" of quilt but I love her for her quirkiness.

And that's Dottie.

Do you buy small, quirky quilts?  Are you sometimes unable to resist a quilt at a thrift or antique store?

--Nancy.