Jun 23, 2007

Former accountant finds success in quiltingBy David PageExaminer-Enterprise.com

Choctaw, Okla. (AP) – Marie Childress worked as an accountant for about 25 years. After her husband retired after 23 years in the U.S. Navy, her job with Inion Inc., a medical device maker, relocated Childress to Oklahoma City.

Besides her career as an accountant, Childress also shared a love of quilting with her mother and grandmother and had a longtime dream of opening a quilt shop. After finishing third in a quilting contest at the Oklahoma State Fair, she decided the time had come.

In 2005, Childress opened Home is Where the Heart is Quilt & Gift Shop in Choctaw and now has customers stretching from coast to coast.

“Quilters travel and they plan their vacations around quilt shops,” she said. “I have customers in Maine, California and Seattle. I have one customer from Texas who comes in frequently.”

Quilters also travel to quilting shows around the country, she said. The Centennial Celebration of Quilts 2007 is scheduled July 26-28 at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.

The shop in Choctaw features quilting supplies, patterns and classes. Childress is a sales representative for Handi Quilter, a distributor of quilting machines and products based in North Salt Lake, Utah. A long-arm quilting machine with accessories can cost up to $9,500, she said.

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