KATHY DELANEY | Website | Email

A life-long teacher – a quilt maker since 1991. (I have loved teaching since a kid in the garage with my blackboard, dolls and pet dog!) I began teaching quilt making techniques in 1995 when one of the teachers at the newly opened quilt shop where I worked moved unexpectedly. She told me what to do and I taught the class. I have been teaching ever since as I discovered my greatest joy in quit making is sharing the art with others. In 1996 I took my first appliqué class. It was in appliqué that I found my true calling.

My philosophy of teaching appliqué revolves around the fact that I love the art and want my students to as well. I have taken every appliqué class I can so as to learn as much as possible. I think the more I know, the more I can teach. Somewhere in all the techniques I teach will be the one that sparks my student into loving appliqué as much as I do. When I teach a class, I show the techniques that I think work the best, but I also share what I know others do. It ISN’T “my way or the highway!” As a student, it’s YOUR way – the techniques that work best for you!

I regularly develop new workshops and classes. Not every project requires the same appliqué technique. So I like to offer a variety of techniques to add to the students’ appliqué arsenal. It is with this in mind that I have designed the project for Baltimore on the Prairie. My goal is to provide a solid foundation for any project the student might take on. I think my philosophy of teaching encourages the beginner student to succeed and the seasoned student to grow.

I am active in several local guilds, the Kansas Quilters Organization, a regional guild – The Heartland Quilt Network – all of which I have held positions on the Board of Directors – several national guilds including the International Quilters Association, the American Quilters Society, the National Quilters Association and The Appliqué Society. I have worked and taught at Prairie Point Quilts in Shawnee, KS since it's opening in June of 1995. I was invited in 1998 to participate in the 1999 Pilgrim and Roy Challenge to benefit the Museum of the American Quilters Society in Paducah, Kentucky. I have taught appliqué nationally for guilds as well as regional shows in New Hampshire and Maine and national shows, in Paducah and Nashville. I have also taught appliqué in Germany.

Several of my appliqué quilts have won ribbons at local guild shows as well as national shows, including the National Quilters Association, The American Quilters Society in Paducah, KY and A Quilters Heritage Celebration in Lancaster, PA.

My first appliqué quilt, “Imperial Garden,” was published in Emily Senuta’s book Baskets and Blooms, published by AQS in 1998. I have been represented on the cover as well as the interior of both Traditional Quiltworks Magazine, issue #73, and Quilting Today, issue #89 and #95, and am published in Quilters Newsletter Magazine, October issue, 2004. I have a quilt featured on the cover and inside Barbara Brackman's book, Prairie Flowers, Kansas City Star Books, 2001, in the 2003 AQS date book and in Barbara's Women of Design, Kansas City Star Books, 2004 . My own books include, Hearts and Flowers – Hand Appliqué From Start to Finish, an in-depth look at how to do needleturn appliqué, published by Kansas City Star Books in April 2002, A Heartland Album – More Techniques in Hand Appliqué, published in March 2003, The Basics – An Easy Guild to Beginning Quiltmaking, published in June 2004, Horn of Plenty for a New Century published October 2004, Patterns of History – the Challenge Winners, published in October 2005 and Beyond the Basics – A Potpourri of Quiltmaking Techniques, published in October of 2007 all from Kansas City Star Books. My 7th book, Pots de Fleurs, was published by KC Star Books in February 2009. I design patterns for piecing and appliqué under the name of Fabric Crayon Designs.

I was fortunate to appear on Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson on HGTV (first airing fall 2003 - Segment #916).