The image of grandma sitting in a creaky, old rocking chair knitting a quilt is as American as a Norman Rockwell painting. But like Rockwell’s classic Americana, the old has given way to the new. Today, heavy metal rockers, a male pathologist, and a broadway star are among the diverse group of people who have taken up the needle.
At the cutting edge of this movement is Maddie Kertay, owner of Chattanooga-based Spool, a high-end quilting supplies store. She says there are still a lot of “little old ladies” quilting, but they’re not the only ones. “Quilting is no longer the bastion of cloistered, conservative people who don’t get out much,” she says. “Everybody’s quilting. It’s very diverse.”
Kertay credits the explosive new interest in quilting to its evolution from a practical skill to a modern art form. Quilts are still being made for cuddling, she says, but quilting has also emerged as a form of personal expression.
“We’ve made quilts since we’ve had woven cloth,” she says. “But anyone can buy a blanket. Today, quilting is also a way to express your thoughts, feelings, and personal design aesthetic.”
Several of Kertay’s quilts adorn the walls of Spool, a cozy, brick-walled nook on McCallie Avenue in Highland Park. While they’re beautiful, there’s more to each one than meets the eye. One, titled “Roy G. Biv,” is a whole cloth quilt with decorative stitching. At first glance, it looks rather plain, but upon closer inspection of its threads, one can see Kertay, a married mother of six, stitched her heart into the cloth.
“This quilt is a love letter to my husband, so it contains a lot of symbolism,” she says. “On one side is a tree with our initials carved into it. There are hearts for each one of our children, and a dove representing our son Gabriel, who died 14 years ago. I also stitched a lot of symbolism into the quilt only my husband would understand.”
The quilt also contains a rainbow, which Kertay says honors diversity.
The themes Kertay weaves into her quilts go deeper than initials carved into bark. Even the contrast of the colors on a quilt can carry meaning. Another by Kertay, titled “Flower Bombed,” consists of bright blossoms set against a dark gray backdrop. The juxtaposition of vivid colors against austere fabric is striking, and will easily catch the eye of anyone browsing Spool’s walls, even if the meaning escapes the beholder.
“This quilt came out of a conversation I had with my son,” she says. “We were listening to a story on public radio about a bombing, and he said it would be better if we bombed people with flowers.”
Some of the quilts on Kertay’s walls are more abstract but no less fascinating. For a third piece, quilter Sandi Suggs used split 9-patch blocks to create a pattern of angular lines surrounding a star. The fusion of quilting history and a modern design aesthetic appeals to Kertay. “[Suggs] shows how some modern quilters feel stuck because they used to be a tradition quilter, but they feel like they can’t step out of it because they have all of this traditional fabric,” she says. “She took traditional fabric and used it in a modern way.”
While Kertay is excited about the shift in quilting toward artistic expression, she says there are plenty of practical reasons to make or buy a quilt. “From the birth of a baby to the loss of a loved one, the need for a quilt spans the lifetime of a person.”
While Kertay loves all quilts, she’s geared Spool, which she opened last September, toward modern quilters. Her shelves are crammed with bright, fanciful fabrics, and she carries only the highest quality notions. For example, while her hand sewing needles from Japan cost more than the mass produced needles at a big box store, Kertay says her products are worth the money.
“We cater to people who want gourmet sewing goods. You could buy a pack of twenty needles for a buck, but they’ll have burs on them. We sell six needles for eight dollars, but they’ve been milled to precision, and they won’t hurt a quilter’s hand or get caught on fabric. The investment will go a long way toward making quilting a pleasurable experience.”
Word is out about Spool. Kertay is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, and she rarely has an empty shop. In addition to a sizable local following, customers have traveled from Atlanta, Ga., Alabama, and even Canada to purchase her wares. “The Canadians were on their way to Florida. They planned out their trip to be able to stop here,” she says.
In addition to luring far-off fans, Kertay has more than a few male customers. This comes as no surprise to her or her female customers, as quilting is no longer considered an activity just for women. “I have more male quilters than most people would guess. They say they’re comfortable here. One is a 12-year-old boy who told his mom he wanted to make a quilt. Another is a pathologist whose pleasure is to go home at the end of the day and put some fabric together.”
Kertay grew up in Edmond, Okla. She taught herself to sew when she was nine years old, and as an adult authored numerous sewing articles and projects in books and spoke at conferences. Four years ago, a blog about quilting sparked her imagination. Her first quilt depicted a “wonky” log cabin. “It’s on our bed to this day,” she says.
Kertay is more than a quilting shop owner; she’s a quilting evangelist. She teaches beginner’s classes, has a lending library of hard-to-find how-to books, and is the spearhead of the BadAss Quilters Society, a 5,800-member online community that stretches from her home computer to Canada, Japan, Australia, and Slovakia. “We’re knocking ‘em dead in Slovakia,” she cracks.
As the head BadAss, Kertay nightly responds to questions on Facebook and helps fellow quilters over Skype. Assisting others is as much a part of her passion for quilting as taking needle to thread. Quilting is a learnable skill, she says, and she wants to help anyone who has the interest to explore the joy of it.
“There are people who can’t draw a stick figure but can make a fantastic quilt,” she says. “It’s not just for the artistic.”
For more information, about Spool, visit www.spoolquilt.com. To learn about the BadAss Quilters Society, go to www.badassquilterssociety.com.