IT’S OKAY TO FEEL QUILTY - THE HEN PEN KEEPS A WARM CRAFT COVERED

PHOTOS BY ROSS JAYNES VISUAL MEDIA CO.

By William Harwood

When Danni Surre was a child, her nanny possessed a power that must have seemed all but magical to the little girl. The older woman could take two pieces of fabric, add some soft batting in between, and — using only the simplest of tools: a needle, some scissors, some thread — create works of art that Surre would wrap her little body up in, feeling warm and safe and loved. She did not know it then, but Surre was being gently inducted into the ancient tradition of quilting. Stretching back to at least the Egyptians, “quilt” — both the noun and the verb — have been part of the English language for a thousand years, a solid five centuries before Modern English even existed. Oh, forsooth.

But sometimes even good seeds grow slowly, and Surre stopped quilting by the time she reached her teenage years, blanketed by other interests. It was only after college and marriage and giving birth to little wee ones of her own that Surre decided it was, once again, time to thread the needle between two folds of fabric and step up to the batting. Sadly, her beloved nanny had passed, so Surre had to refresh her quilting skills with YouTube videos. But, by 2011, her skills had returned to the point that she opened her business, The Hen Pen, focusing mostly on small, baby-related pieces such as crib sheets and nursing pillow covers. “People usually treasure handmade things for babies a lot more than items from big box stores,” Surre points out.

As her expertise grew, so did her confidence in creating artisan quilts. She began to sell them, or, rather, her quilts began selling themselves, their quality and their beauty all but compelling patrons to adopt them into their forever homes. Surre still crafts items for babies, but, since 2021, is now more focused on quilts. It is a labor of love. Each quilt’s construction takes 20 to 80 hours of focused expertise, depending on its size and its patterns. “I typically try to keep it around that 20 to 40-hour sweet spot,” Surre says, “because there's only one of me.” Still, even by herself, she was able to create 35 quilts in 2021, a dozen of them memory quilts incorporating items of clothing from a loved one. “I have found an unexpected joy in making these quilts,” Surre shares, “specifically because it's just really fun to be able to take tangible things that hold so many memories for the person and then turn them into something that they can continue to love and cherish for many more years.”

While Surre, a busy mother who homeschools her children, generally quilts alone — usually two to three hours a day as schedules permit Surre is also a huge fan of The Dancing Bobbin in Spring Hill. “They have so many fabrics and notions, and the ladies there are fabulous,” she says. This local community allows for local production. “The large majority of the quilts I make I do everything from beginning to end right here in Maury County.”

Thanks to artisans like Surre, quilting is far from a lost art in Middle Tennessee. “The women who are doing quilts nowadays are my age, in their 30s and 40s,” Surre says. “And are rediscovering what their grandmothers did. It’s been really neat.”

Follow The Hen Pen on Instagram at @thehenpen or for additional information on custom memory or heirloom quilts visit thehenpen.com.