Cynthia Helton sent photos of this quilt that her mom, Shirley Ray Hatley Alford, started in 1995. Shirley passed away in July, 2007. Cynthia, thank you for sharing her quilt with us, I know you all must treasure it.

I remember Shirley! She was in my North Pole class at Sharon’s Quilt Depot way back in 1995 when the book, A Sampling of Santas, was new. Shirley was a lovely woman and I have a smile on my face when I remember her.

This is excerpted from the very well-written documentation patch:

Shirley hand appliqued the blocks and machine pieced them together. As her health began to decline due to breast cancer, Shirley invited Corinne Lageose to finish the hand quilting. Carolyn MIller sewed on the outer binding by hand. And Shirley’s daughter, Cynthia Rae Alford Helton sewed on the red berry buttons and other embellishments. This quilt was lovingly finished by Cynthia while sitting at the bedside of Shirley in July, 2007. This is Shirley’s Masterpiece!

If you are interested in the pattern, A Sampling of Santas is included in our ebook, A Slice of Christmas.