The Perfect BadAss

Are you ready to get to know the
best'ist BadAss Quilter around anywhere?!!

Hope you are, for today I'm featuring Maddie Kertay -- founder and amazing CREATOR of the BadAss Quilter's Society. In moments of shear exhaustion at Quilt Market (2013) we both took advantage of chairs in the GenerationQ Magazine booth -- this is where we met, and I got pinned!

What a treat it is to meet Maddie, hear her talk and call her friend. She is a force of nature when it comes to keeping it real for all quilters through her BadAss Quilter's Society efforts. And, Maddie does this all while running a successful, wonderful shop (SPOOL) in Chattanooga, TN.

Did I mention she is an accomplished sewist, too? She is, and below you'll find out a little bit about Maddie in her own words.

How did you find quilting? Or, did it find you?

I have sewn since I was quite young  but my leap to quilting was just about 4 years ago when I accidently fell into the blog Tall Grass Prairie and it made my head spin.

Where you always drawn to quilting stitch? Or, was there another part of the process that pulled you in?

For me it was the fabrics and the colors.  I realized how limited I had been in what I had seen of fabrics given that where I lived there was not much to see! And while I will always be a huge advocate for local shopping it is true that the internet really opened up my eyes to what I could do and work with as a quilt artist.

What is your favorite thing about where you are today on your quilting adventure?

My adventure has always been about empowering people to be their very best creative selves no matter what that means to them. Simple sewing or complex , I am cool with all of it. 

Has this changed from when you first set off?

I started off doing what came from inside of me. Everything I know has been self-taught and I just keep growing from there, willing to make outrageous mistakes along the way and talk about it. I think that is really important. SO many show there amazing work but so few show all the pain it takes to get there.  You have to make a lot of crap to make something amazing.

Do you see yourself at a fork in the road? If you do, can you share about what direction you may be thinking about going?

I quilt on a very limited basis these days ( but still Love it), and only projects that REALLY engaged me like the one I did for your book. My fork has taken me to being a social media cheerleader and professional Rabble-Rouser for the membership of the quilt industry. I feel it is my call to further the conversations about what it means to be a quilter. BadAss Quilters Society gives me the forum to be as loud as I want and bring attention to the parts of the industry that are amazing as well as those that need a facelift!
Below is a sneak peek at the quilting Maddie stitched into my Poppy Pod quilt to bring it into it's own.

Fun & Amazing, just like Maddie herself!
I am delighted to have had a chance to work with her and to get to know her better.

Thank You Maddie.... love you!