CIMARRON ...Some people find a profession they love and pursue it. Others simply stumble into one as a hobby becomes a career. Vivien Andrews of Cimarron¹s Top Performance Quilters said she began with making clothing and upholstering cars that were being restored.
     "Quilting revived in the '70s and again in the '90s," she said. "In the late '80s and early '90s, I had an upholstery shop here in Cimarron. Sewing garments kinda went by the wayside. "I saw a quilt and decided, "That's what I want to do." Since then the business has pretty much assembled itself, so to speak.
     Things started off as a hobby... the first quilt was a challenge, naturally, but the next one became a five-year project as she did it all by hand. "I've learned to get much faster," Andrews said, laughing. "What they have nowadays, compared to 15 years ago ... scissors was pretty much it."
     Andrews attributes much of the reason for starting the business to her partner and daughter, Sherry Tharp. She said that Tharp approached her and told Andrews, "I need another job."
     "My daughter decided she wanted to do this as a business," she said. Tharp explained, "I never liked to sew. I like putting your stamp of design on other people's stuff." She added that the two of them are doing well working out of the building in their back yard that has been dedicated to the quilt shop, complete with two quilting machines. "Even though we're one (business), you can push out twice the work."
     The business consists primarily of long-arm quilting work, which is sandwiching and sewing the pieces of a quilt together using a meandering stitch that holds the top, middle and backing together. "Most quilters do their own tops. You finish their quilts," Andrews said. "It¹s kinda like painting with a sewing machine. It¹s a pretty simple business."
     Nonetheless, she and Tharp can run the quilting gamut, from comforters and baby quilts to 120 inches by 120 inches California Kings, binding and other custom services. "If people want a quilt made, we will make a quilt for 'em," she said.

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Top Performance Quilters
Vivien Andrews and Sherry Tharp
Long-Arm Machine Design
425 W 19th Street
Cimarron, NM    87714
Telephone/Fax: 505.376.2955
Email address: vslaq@bacavalley.com