About

I’m Kay Mackenzie, a quilter who writes or a writer who quilts. Either way you look at it, I live in Santa Cruz, California, with my husband, science journalist Dana Mackenzie, and three cats and a dog (Willie, the real quilt puppy). My email is kay at kaymackenzie.com.

I publish books and patterns for quilters. On my website, By Kay Mackenzie, there are lots of photos of quilts that I’ve made, or that my quilting friends made to appear in my books. I created this blog to show off what other quilters have done using my designs as inspiration. This is my brag book of your quilts! If you’ve made something using one of my patterns, I hope you’ll go to the Submit Your Project page and let me know about it!

My titles include:
Dolls & Dresses to Appliqué
Easy Appliqué Blocks: 50 Designs in 5 Sizes (That Patchwork Place)
Home: A Heartfelt Nap Quilt
Teapots 2 to Appliqué
Baskets to Appliqué
Teapots to Appliqué (now out of print)
Growing Hearts to Appliqué
A Merry Little Christmas to Appliqué
In a Twinkle: Youthful Quilt Designs
Dog Cabin and Others: A Fast Fun Theme-Quilt Project

My patterns, published by Brookshier Design Studio, are A Spin in the Garden, Peekaboo, and Courtyard Squares.

You can see a bit more about these on the Designs page, or visit my website, By Kay Mackenzie (you’ll see Willie there too). I also offer an “Introduction to Back-Basting Hand Appliqué Complete Kit” for hand appliqué fans who would like to become introduced to no-template preparation.

A little more about me. Like a lot of others, I started in a beginning quilting class, about 16 years ago. I was an appliqué person from the get-go! For a long time I made quilts from patterns or pictures. Then I began to branch out, modifying designs in some way. When I got my own computer and learned some skills in illustrating, I broke through to creating original appliqué designs of my own. A peculiar combination of interests in my strange brain led me to become a publisher of books for quilters… quilting, computer illustration, writing, editing, typography, and page layout all combined!

I also write articles for quilting magazines. I’ve had pieces in American Quilter, Quilter’s Newsletter, McCall’s Quilting, and The Professional Quilter. And of course there are always more bubbling in the brain.

As I started out saying, I consider myself a quilter who writes, or a writer who quilts. I enjoy combing all of my creative outlets (some of them quite nerdy) in what I do. It’s my creative outlet, and my work. I’m so fortunate that they are one and the same.