Metro Woman's Quilts to Be Showcased in Nashville

OKLAHOMA CITY -- One Oklahoma woman never thought her hobby would get her a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame, especially because she's not a musician.

But, her talent in another area is taking her to Nashville.

With country music tunes playing over and over in her mind Vivian Tumelson quilts to the beat of the music, while staying in rhythm with the machine.

It's a hobby that turned into a business but still makes her passionate. It's hard to believe she was tricked into quilting after retiring from the phone company years ago, when her sister bought the machine.

"So, we put it over there in her house across the street, and as soon as we got it set up she said, ‘Well, I didn't get that for me, I got it for you'" Tumelson said. "And I said, ‘Well, I don't even know how to use it'".

Now she uses it every day. So often, in fact, that her husband, whose job it is to repair it when it breaks, wants her to take a break.

"She won't break when I tell her too," Vivian's husband Bobby Tumelson said. "So, I just starve her out; after a while she's going to have to eat."

But he eventually let up when Vivian decided to make a quilt with the couple's favorite country music stars on it, an idea she got from an old box of magazines, with great pictures inside.

"I made one quilt of the artists that have since deceased," Vivian said.

And she made another one with artists that are still living.

Both have been chosen for display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

An honor that Vivian believes is worth the hours of hard work she puts into her hobby and business every single day.

"I love looking at them and I think everybody else will, too," Vivian said.

Vivian says now she's thankful that her sister tricked her into quilting many years ago. She thinks picking up a hobby in retirement keeps you young.

The couple is leaving for Nashville on Thursday. They have an appointment with the curator at the Hall of Fame, Friday afternoon.