Nativity 2, nearly finished!

This quilt is now sandwiched and quilted. The binding is ready to sew on, and I will likely do it front to back by machine and hand stitching on the back. It is a nice way to relax. The hanging sleeve is also ready to put on, again by hand and maybe during a hockey game on television.

At this angle, there is distortion... Mary's hand looks huge and Joseph's face looks too small. Not so! 

These pieces are fused, but needed to be stitched. I was dreading it and didn't want to stuff it into my DM so loaded it on the longarm. I bought a few shades of Invisafil and am pleased with the results. It is like sewing with hair, and required 0 tension on the top. I also put it in the bobbin. I used a size 12 needle, against the strong warning of my Avante dealer who thought such a small needle would break. I had no problems with it, even through backing, batting, and a top with fused layers. That size still left 'holes' but not nearly as obvious as the size 14 needles.

My stitching isn't perfect, yet at a short distance, it is invisible. Had I spent more money, I might have been able to match the colors better, but it is really hard to tell which color works best on each fabric. Pale blue disappeared on blue, but black also disappeared on dark green. As the "Dear Jane" quilters say, finished is better than perfect.

I will be offering the pattern for this as soon as I get it written. I've come up with a way to do it with transparencies, so am now looking for a bargain in the ones used on copy machines.