Hannah Headlee’s passion was appliqué, and she designed seven original quilts, including Peacock. She supported herself at times by teaching watercolor and china painting in Topeka, Kansas. Headlee also painted the Peacock design in oil on canvas, demonstrating the strong connection she made between quilts and other media.

The Twentieth Century’s Best American Quilts featured another of Headlee’s quilts, Iris Garland. Headlee may have drawn inspiration for Iris Garland from a similar quilt, Orchid Wreath (1929), by her acquaintance Rose Good Kretsinger from nearby Emporia, Kansas.

Kretsinger studied design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago between 1905-1908 and co-authored The Romance of the Patchwork Quilt in America (1935) with Carrie A. Hall. Kretsinger’s and Headlee’s quilts are finely balanced, expertly colored, and masterfully executed appliqué designs—reflecting an approach to quilts as art and their infusion of art into their everyday lives and surroundings.