It’s always a pleasure to show you one of my quilts after it comes back from the longarm quilter. Once again Karlee at SewInspired2Day has worked her magic. Here’s a look at my latest quilt, Wonderful World, trimmed and ready to bind:

You probably already know that this quilt is based on the free pattern Ribbon Box by Cloud 9 Fabrics. It’s my third version of the pattern.

How about a close-up of the quilting? Happy to oblige:

I was searching for a quilt design that was lighthearted and loopy, capturing the feeling of clouds since the text print features images of nature — including “clouds of white” — in the lyrics to the song “What A Wonderful World.” I came across a quilt motif by Anne Bright Designs and knew it would be perfect for this quilt. Ironically the name of her design is “Storm Cloud” but in my view there’s nothing stormy about it.

I always ask Karlee to extend the quilting a bit beyond the edges of my quilt top:

Why? For one thing it makes it easier to apply the binding because the outer edges are anchored by the stitching. It also gives me the option of making a wider binding if I choose. For example, I could trim the quilt 1/4″ beyond the edge of the back to make a 1/2″ wide binding.

A couple more close-ups, first of the front . . .

. . . and then of the back:

You can’t see much of the quilting in this full photo of the back but trust me when I say that it looks terrific:

Likewise, you can’t see much of the quilting in the next photo but it does show you the resident feline staking her claim:

With my binding strips already cut and sewn together, my plan is to get the binding and label done in the next few days so I can claim a final finish for 2024.