A teacher educator and artist explores alternate ways to think of teaching as a creative endeavor. This paper brings together the voices of Appalachian craftswomen and the wisdom of educator and philosopher John Dewey to create a patchwork that celebrates the common threads of quiltmaking and teaching. Interviews with West Virginia craftswomen and a review of selected literature on quiltmaking in Appalachia provide authentic voices whose words and stories are interpreted within Dewey's philosophy. Dewey's focus on the ongoing nature of process offers a means to know and appreciate the full measure of engagement and passionate commitment to the task at hand. Whether the task at hand involves piecing a quilt or designing a lesson plan, Dewey's philosophy pushes the creator to embrace the presence and wholeness of the experience itself. The experiences of Appalachian quilters as they engage with the materials and methods of their craft can offer preservice teachers a new language for understanding Dewey's insights about teaching as a form of art. Parallels are drawn between aspects of the quiltmaker's and the teacher's experience, including use of a variety of shared materials, design as purposeful composition, creation of new pieces from old fabric, and the craft as a form of human connection. (SV)