Elizabeth Schumacher Leece was surely influenced by the innovations introduced into quiltmaking in the early twentieth century by Marie D. Webster, a designer and the author of Quilts: Their Story and How to Make Them (1915). Webster’s quilts feature a pastel color scheme, distinct borders, and a medallion center that recalls bedcovers made a century earlier. Her garden was her primary inspiration, and she created appliqué flowers in a new naturalistic style that clearly broke with late-nineteenth-century tradition.

Elizabeth V. Warren, "Tulip and Rose Bouquet Quilt," exhibition label for QUILTS: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum. Elizabeth V. Warren, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2010.