In search of the perfect dot

When I started quilting last year, everyone was sashing in white.  And then grey became the new white.  And then dots became the new grey.  When I was working my way through the Circle Game BOM quilt, I fell in love with the Windham American Vintage cream on charcoal dot you can see in this picture.  I love how the bright scraps pop against it.  But that fabric is now OOP (out of print) and becoming very hard to find.  


So I have been keeping an eagle eye open for the perfect dot - not too big, not too small, evenly spaced and with a vintage or retro feel to it.  And bingo it hit me between the eyes when my loonybin friend Katy brought me back the teensiest little 2 1/2" charm pack of Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 from Quilt Market.  


Sitting there, amongst those teeny little squares was the perfect dot.  Creamy white on red, creamy white on sage, creamy white on faded gold and creamy white on peppery black.  


I have plans for these dots but more of that when the dust has settled on the summer holidays, the unpacking, the washing pile the size of Everest and the preparations for going back to school at the start of September.  In the meantime, let me know, what is your favourite sashing and do you have a favourite dot?  

Comments

  1. They are very nice dots and colour ways. Kei dots are my fav- v similar to those. Sashing? Mixed neutrals please- you didn't expect a straightforward answer did you?

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  2. I don't always use sashing in my quilts, but my favourite background colour is cream/pale beige/off-white. I also don't have that much of dot/spot fabrics in my stash, but the ones from Denyse Scmidt's Fairgrounds and Picnics are my favourites so far.

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  3. I'm loving polka dots too. There's something about them that's so smiley. I've been using a great black and white, and duck egg and white - which surely is the same.

    hmm - favourite sashing? .... one that sashes itself? :) favourite dot? Tricky one.... cerise or duck egg blue - but definitely with white spots!

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  4. Having made only three quilts my choice of sashing has been dark solids! I love modern quilts but couldn't handle the idea of white for quilts I made for my baby grandsons!

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  5. Not sure I have favourite sashing - recently sashed in grey, in HSTs (not doing that again in a huury), in repro 30's and now in yellow and red teeth for the Fright nite lap quilt...sorry no definitive answer!

    As for dots - love them all!

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  6. I love dots of all sizes. I have a thing for pin dots at the moment. Those cute tiny little dots seem to sparkle to me.

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  7. I dont have favourties yet, I cant quilt quick enough to try all I want to try before I decide! I do love dots though, and stripes... apparently I have a big thing for stripes - or at least my stash is full of them, havent actually used them yet...

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  8. loony bin? Cheeky cow....

    ps - moda essential dots - very excellent (I will insist they're the best in the world ever and will fight you if you disagree), timeless treasures smirk dot, also very cool (because I am using it RIGHT THIS MINUTE and therefore it must be cool. Right? Obviously)

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  9. Kei honeycomb dots are a major favourite right now ( have just bought a pile in assorted colours). But I also love the Ta Dot series, though I am not sure thet would work as good for sashing.
    I am currently finishing a quilt where I have used Kona chocolate and I love it!

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  10. I still use white, different shades of grey and dots. It just depends on the project :) I have few dot fabrics and I absolutely love them!

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  11. OMG you have me thinking of things I never gave much thought to BLQ (before Lily's Quilts)....I have used Moda's Essential Dots, really pretty and not in your face, have some Crazy for Spots & Stripes , more polka polka sized.............sashing? usually plain, oops, I mean solid!!

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  12. I don't have a favorite sashing and I haven't met a dot I don't like so far. I prefer dots that are the size of pencil erasers or smaller, though. I don't mind if they are regularly spaced or random. I just like me a good dot. Have you run out and bought a bolt of your dots yet? :-)

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  13. I too love the Kei honeycomb dots - so many colours! I also love From Little Things dots - realised this weekend that 2 of my farmers wife blocks had them in :)

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  14. If you like a spot with a vintage feel....I love Kaffee Fassett in Tomato {?} it is a great red with a spot that is not white and not quite pink....almost like nude color. It has a very vintage feel. Then, of course, there is the RK feedsack spots from Darlene Zimmerman...I love the pink w/white and the yellow w/white. But I think I am amost just as fond of the new ginghams now to use where I would have used spots. LOL! Gingham is the new Spot!!!

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  15. I agree! Those are lovely dots! I loved the Bliss dots...but I always found myself wishing that they had them in black. These are great!

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  16. White then grey and now polka dots? E-gads, where have I been? I still am on white!

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  17. Not sure I have a favourite sashing - I tend to wait until I've made the blocks and then make a prolonged visit to my LQS/have a marathon online search for the perfect fabric! I do love Moda Essential Dots and I've used other good dots but I have no idea what they're called - sorry, not helpful! My favourite dot is anything that runs straight with the grain, they so often don't!! (And it's the same with stripes!) Those dots look lovely, can't wait to see them in a project!

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  18. I've been eyeing this whole line for a few weeks now . . . I want to buy it soooo bad, but I'm in "let's be careful" mode . . . that generally translates to "honey, please don't buy any fabric for a bit" . . . I also want more Heirloom, Joel Dewberry. Maybe I'll settle for a layer cake . . .

    Sashing is a "personal" thing per project for me. I've actually not been liking sashing lately, but I'm sure you've tested the Ta Dots? They probably aren't the vintage warmness you're looking for...

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  19. oooh yeah, as Mary said, gingham . . . my favorite binding...maybe the new sashing

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  20. So glad you found your dots! My favorite sashing is black around bright colors. Otherwise it all depends on what I'm working with. As far as favorite dot? I don't really have one.

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  21. Fave sashing: depends on the palette I'm working with, but I do have a weakness for soft off-whites. I stumbled across a Gee's Bend solid in natural when I first started quilting (late 2009), and it washed up beautifully (to my eye): it just looks like a nice old cotton.

    I have had LOTS of dots in my stash over the past 2 years; hard to choose a favourite, but I love the Freespirit Savon Bouquet dots I am using right now to sash Frida's quilt and I also *adore* the Lecien basic dots and Alexander Henry mod dots. Geesh, I thought I was dotted-out, but mulling this over may reignite my love of dots :)

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  22. Any dots will do for me,big or small! Whatever I have on hand. My goal is to have an assortment of dots in different colors and sizes!

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  23. I just posted an antique quilt made with the same polka dots. So interesting that they have stayed in style all these years, and that we continue to love them in every shape or form. I'v made a quilt entirely in polka dots (and other dots) and it's one of my all time favorite quilts.
    Nedra (sorry,blogger won't let me leave my identity)

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  24. Still love, Love, LOVING Amy Butler's moon dots. They are the fabric equivalent of pop rocks for me, making my quilt bindings sizzle and dance. Superb!

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  25. My ultimate fave dots are the Cake Rock Beach ones, white on green. They are super hard to find, but every time I see them I scoop them up as fast as I can. They're a smaller honeycomb pattern. Perfect color. I love the teal background too and have a bunch, bit green wins.

    I also have a soft spot for the Kaffe Fassett dots. My favorite are the orange on grey. Yum, yum, yum! I'll need to get my hands on some of that Circa 1934 stuff too!

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  26. There are some fabulous dots in one of Jennifer Paganelli's more recent collections. And she does really fabulous saturated colors!

    I also love the dots from Sweetwater's new line, Hometown..

    But I'm a dot a holic. Seriously. love. dots.

    The dots from DS's picnic line are fabulous too. I have YARDS of them! I should do an all dot quilt!

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  27. I really like the Michael Miller Ta Dots. And they have several colors in one print, but I'm really liking the dots by Monica Lee Designs. Everything I've used them in looks great IMHO (see my 4x5 blocks on flickr - flickrdeb50).

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  28. My favorite sashings are stripes and other "cheater" prints that have the look of pieced work. I love fabrics that make my patchwork appear much more complex than it actually is. Polka dots are fun and make great bindings, but here again I think stripes are great for straight or bias binding.

    Reently, I discovered "Quilter's Linen" by Robert Kaufman, which reminds me of the cotton "kettle cloth" I loved for clothing in the 70's. These textured solids are beautiful and would make great sashing and bias bindings.

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  29. One of my all time favorites is Dumb Dots by Michael Miller- brown dots on a green field is my favorite. But I also love using the many colors of shot cotton by Kaffe. I love the tonal texture that's created by having two colors woven together in the shot cottons.

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  30. I don't think crisp white sashing will ever be out of style to me. But I'm loving the Quilter's linen too, especially in charcoal, even though I'm sort of over grey Konas. I do love a good dot and those are definitely on my stash list. But Kei dots will always be a fave too. I get nervous if my arsenal of those starts to dwindle.

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  31. Have fun with all that washing....oh how I remember those days!!!!

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  32. Michael Miller Ta-Dots for me ... so many colourways ... but if it's a smaller dot I need then I go for any of the Leciens ... my LQS has some wonderful common or garden no name dots in great sagey greens and browns ... well, I have them now ;)

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  33. You have given me a great idea! I need about 1/8th of a yard of fabric to finish a quilt top. I am going to blog about it. Thanks. Love your blog.

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