nansbranch Christmas - Every Christmas Eve my sisters and I could hear Santa's Sleigh Bells echoing faintly through our home. We tried so hard to get back asleep so Santa wouldn't know we were awake. After I had my children my mother handed me those SAME sleigh bells – “that was YOU”, I cried! Snickering, my mother laughed and told me how she stood in the bathtub in the tile bathroom and rang those bells! They are a big part of our Christmas each year. I made the bell straps with Cherry Wood fabrics and cotton sateen for the bells with a little gold fabric paint. We sang songs all season long, so I put our favorite song on tea dyed fabric. I used sequins and beads for the center of the flowers, it reminds me of the hand work my mother and grandma did using those. As a little girl I would be memorized, just watching how the lights bounced off those sequins. I took a class from Phil Beaver at The Quilter’s Escape in Fortuna, Ca. I really enjoyed his class because he touched on design and what makes it work well. He also taught us how to paint fabric with just 3 colors. All the fabric except for the background is my fabric that I dyed in his class. I used his Poinsettia, Holly and Oil Lamp patterns. When we moved to California we did not have any electricity for 4 years so I adjusted his lamp to look like ours. We now have solar power and very grateful for it. The quilting done by April Sproule has just made this quilt sparkle and pop! She has enhanced the elements and makes the quilt so special to me and my family. My eldest daughter has already clamed this piece. I really enjoy making 3 demission quilts and have already planned a follow up quilt for my second daughter.