Carousel Quilt

I began the Carousel Quilt, by Everyday Quilts, several months ago. I purchased the pattern from @lizatbroderie. It is such a fun quilt with large multi wedge wheels and several borders! Including a cute patchwork border and a yo-yo border!!! Who doesn't love a yo-yo border?!

I would like to share with you my progress to date. This will make much more sense if you own the pattern, but stick with me. And, I would love to hear from anyone who has made this quilt or is currently working on the Carousel Quilt.

The first step is to make all of the wheels. The pattern is written as a hand pieced pattern. I knew that I would not complete it if I were to attempt to hand piece this entire quilt, so I made my own foundation paper piecing template for the wedges in the wheel. My template is actually a quarter of a wheel (arc) and I stitch all 4 quarters together to make a complete wheel. And because the center is very tight, I am choosing to hand applique the center of the wheels. 

I chose this amazing text fabric by Suzuko Koseki for Yuwa as my background. According to the instructions, once you have the wheels finished, piece the background pieces to the wheels. 

There is a large background piece with 4 "scooped out" sections on each side. Four wheels are added to each side or concave section. The pattern includes register lines (on the background templates) that match up perfectly with the seams of the wedges in the wheel. 

         

All of the pieces fit beautifully! Although, I have been wondering if it would be possible to piece the quilt in rows, using a quarter of a wheel added to the background pieces rather than piecing in a complete wheel. I started with complete wheels (as the pattern is written) so I will finish it that way.  

 

The only part of the quilt that I have struggled with is that tiny seam where the two background sections meet. 

 

I think if I were hand piecing it, this would not be an issue. But maneuvering the wheels and background pieces to stitch that very small seam is a bit like sewing yoga!!! LOL! It's very important to remember to leave at least a quarter inch free where those background pieces meet. Otherwise, you won't be able to finish that seam.        

 

I will continue with complete wheels, but I do think its possible to attach quarter wheels (arcs) to the background sections and then put the center of the quilt (quilt without borders) together in rows.

If you are appliqueing the centers into the wheels, as I am, then that would have to be done after the quilt is pieced together. 

I would love to hear from you if you have completed this quilt! Especially, if you have machine pieced it!!!

And, I will keep updating my progress here :)

Happy Sunny Stitching!