Orchid Wreath quilt, Rose Frances Good Kretsinger

Exhibition Label: "Quilts: A Thread of Modernism," Aug-2005, Debra Thimmesch and Barbara Brackman Rather than traditional patchwork, Rose Kretsinger’s inspiration for the orchid wreath was an advertising card seen at a soda fountain. Her daughter Mary must have been impressed with the color and exoticism of the realistic orchids when she asked her mother to make a quilt in the design. Rose combined Art Nouveau line and layering with modern medallion-style appliqué, pastel fabric and old-fashioned standards of needlework. The results are stunning. The outer border appears to be a Kretsinger invention, an appliquéd version of the popular cable-quilting pattern. She spent two years on this design, which won numerous prizes in local and state contests. Archive Label 2003: A native of Emporia, Kansas, Rose Kretsinger was a trained designer who responded to the Colonial Revival of the 1920s by studying and reinterpreting the designs of old quilts. Orchid Wreath, however, is an original Kretsinger design inspired by a picture of an orchid on an advertisement at a local soda fountain. Kretsinger labored two years on this quilt, which is considered to be one of the best in a remarkable body of work that emphasized stringent standards of needlework and a professional design sensibility.