Ilyse & Freda Won and I Helped

Paradise in Kansas

Ilyse Moore and Freda Smith

Ilyse Moore and Freda Smith from Overland Park, Kansas won an award at the Des Moines American Quilters Society Show and Contest at the beginning of October.

Ilyse and the finished top

Paradise in Kansas, co-designed by Rose Kretsinger, Ilyse and me and machine quilted by Freda, won third prize in the Bed Quilts: Machine Quilted category.

The medallion was inspired by two Rose Kretsinger quilts designed in the 1930s. The center and inner border are based on the Paradise Garden, Rose's 1945 quilt that is now in the collection of the Spencer Museum of Art. Click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

http://luna.ku.edu:8180/luna/servlet/view/all/who/Kretsinger,+Rose+Frances+Good

The outer border is based on a less famous quilt, one that Rose undoubtedly designed, but didn't make. Her friend Charlotte Whitehill made a version that's in the Denver Art Museum. Charlotte's is called a Kansas Pattern although it has parrots that are definitely not natives. I drafted patterns based on photos of Rose's quilts and Ilyse modified them.

We are planning a book with the pattern for this quilt for Kansas City Star books  next year.

I modified the color on the AQS photo at the top which is way too red and a bit harsh on their website. Here's a picture of it I took at our guild show a few months ago---it's a little bit green. Aaron at the Star will make Ilyse's color perfect for the book.

See the winners here:

http://www.americanquilter.com/shows_contests/desmoines/2011/quilt_contest/quilt_winners.php