It's a celebration! Seven months in the making and it is done. My Carousel Quilt may have sat idle for some of that time but it was never far from my mind or even from my sight. This quilt has taught me many things, including how to hand piece, but more importantly, that it is a process, and that it doesn't matter how you get there in the end, as long as you are happy with the outcome. And I am!
While I set out to hand piece this quilt top I ended up finishing the piecing of the quilt top by machine. All of the arcs and large circles were hand pieced. Once the circles were complete the project sat untouched for several weeks until one evening I decided that I was done looking at it, and I pieced the circles and background fabric together by machine. Lots of curve sewing, all without pins.
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| Click on any image for a larger view. |
I then decided that to keep this project moving along this quilt needed some extra special quilting and I sent the quilt top off to the long arm quilter - Karen Terrens from Quilts on Bastings (Karen is also my sister). I told Karen to "go for it" but she also knows that I like my quilts densely quilted. To say I am thrilled with how she worked her magic would be an understatement!
For the back of the quilt I have chosen a single pink floral fabric from the Strawberry Biscuit collection by Elea Lutz, and for the binding I have used an irregular stripe fabric from the Simpatico collection by Michelle Engel-Bencsko for Cloud9 Fabrics. It is an older fabric that I pulled from my stash, and the muted tone and color of the stripe worked perfectly with both the backing fabric and the quilt top.
As always, thank you for stopping by,
Rita
RELEVANT LINKS:
Carousel Quilt - Work in Progress - Part 1
Carousel Quilt - Work in Progress - Part 2
Professional Long Arm Quilter of Choice: Karen Terrens from Quilts on Bastings
Sewing Curves without Pins ~ Tutorial
More RPQ Slow Sewing Quilts:
The Daisy Chain Quilt
The Wagon Wheel Quilt
For the back of the quilt I have chosen a single pink floral fabric from the Strawberry Biscuit collection by Elea Lutz, and for the binding I have used an irregular stripe fabric from the Simpatico collection by Michelle Engel-Bencsko for Cloud9 Fabrics. It is an older fabric that I pulled from my stash, and the muted tone and color of the stripe worked perfectly with both the backing fabric and the quilt top.
QUILT STATS
Carousel Quilt
A Pattern by Sandra Boyle.
The finished quilt measures 53 inches x 53 inches
(the pattern includes additional borders which I have omitted).
Hand pieced and machine pieced.
In excess of 550 patchwork pieces.
Background fabric is a floral print from the 30's Collection
by Atsuko Matsuyama for Yuwa Fabrics.
This quilt is not for sale.
This quilt is not for sale.
Carousel Quilt Pattern by Sandra Boyle
and additional (optional but very useful!) acrylic templates
available from:
and additional (optional but very useful!) acrylic templates
available from:
Phone orders (03) 9482 5528
Since completing this quilt I have been eagerly plotting and planning my next hand piecing project or even another English Paper Piecing project. Last week I thought I had found it ... and I started it. However it wasn't long before I figured out that I could just as easily machine piece it. And so it goes. Hopefully I will have a new quilt top to show you next week.
Rita
RELEVANT LINKS:
Carousel Quilt - Work in Progress - Part 1
Carousel Quilt - Work in Progress - Part 2
Professional Long Arm Quilter of Choice: Karen Terrens from Quilts on Bastings
Sewing Curves without Pins ~ Tutorial
More RPQ Slow Sewing Quilts:
The Daisy Chain Quilt
The Wagon Wheel Quilt
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