Cotton Fields Quilt Shop, located on Wharton Station Road in western Beaufort County, is celebrating 10 years of operation.

Lori Richardson, the owner of the shop, spent her early adult life as a teacher and mother. Then on Aug. 1, 2004, Richardson purchased the store when the previous owner decided to move out of state.

“I have spent the time since then just trying to build the business,” Richardson said. “I sell all the supplies for making quilts and occasionally I sell a quilt of my own, but that is not my focus.”

When Richardson and her husband moved to Beaufort County from Iowa in 1985, she learned to quilt at the Pamlico River Quilters Guild in Washington.

“Quilting just totally caught my attention, so during my 15-years as a stay-at-home mom I sewed and quilted all the time and this opportunity arose,” Richardson said.

Richardson said her husband joined the business in 2008 to help move her into the 21st century. He passed away in Jan. 2013, but she never the less wanted to keep the business going.

“It was my sole means of support, and I have been out of teaching for 30 years, so that wouldn’t work because I would have to go back to school,” Richardson said. “It’s just me, so I put all my time into the store.”

Cotton Fields Quilt Shop was Richardson’s first business. She said when she started her business in 2004, she didn’t know what she was getting into.

“All the ladies that come in here share a common interest and they are all nice to each other,” Richardson said with a laugh. “I don’t have any troubles.”

Richardson said one of the things that she has enjoyed most over the last 10 years has been the personal attention that she can give the customers when they come into her shop.