When I created this piece in the early 1990's, I thought it would be nice to appliqu� a really big tree with bare branches because I liked the shapes they make.  I also thought animal images would make beautiful patterns on the trunk, so I placed the animals to look like they were inside the tree.  The large concentric circles I acrylic painted onto the borders of the quilt resemble the rings that show in a cross section of a log and represent the age of the tree.  I hand embellished with lots of bugle beads, buttons, jewels, and braids. This artwork is a celebration of nature and life itself and yet, so much of it is only an appearance (the winter tree), with a lot to unfold in the future.