Susan was born in 1959 in Silver Spring, Maryland to Harry & Mary Simms. The only daughter of 3 children and the youngest. She’s been married for 30 years to Robert Vaughn, and have 4 children and 3 grandchildren.
“We have an interesting family – or at least I think so. We have our hands into a lot of pots at the same time and there are times we can’t keep track of them all for all the confusion. However, we all have an entrepreneurial spirit, and enjoy trying new things. We are very much hand’s on in most all we do.” – Susan
Susan is an artist in oils and pastels, and you can visit her portfolio at Mary Susan Vaughn Fine Art
Susan is always creating something, and has a habit of getting her hands into creative projects that become all consuming, sometimes at the expense of the laundry, the dishes, and the cleaning. “I love to write, paint, sew and quilt. These creative endeavors give me purpose, and I enjoy sharing them with others.” (Photo: Me in 2012. Her husband took this photo in Susan’s art studio in their Weddington NC home. “I was watching our boys work in the back yard and Bob said he loved my hair. LOL)
Bob, or “Big Bear” as Susan, family, and friends call him, is definitely a Big Bear – he growls on occasion and shakes the forest every night with his snoring. He was also born in 1959, and Bob and Susan graduated high school together in 1977 from Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring, Maryland.
“When he’s working for some tech company, he is on conference call after conference call, and I wonder what it “is” exactly that he does. He apparently accomplishes a lot in his shorts in his home office. He travels on occasion (not in his shorts), and he brings home a good paycheck that has afforded us a good life, so that I can stay home and take care of our home and family. This has been of great benefit to our children growing up, and our parents in their old age with greater needs, as we have both been able to focus on family at all times. While some may find that working from home a challenge with family distractions and interruptions, Bob thrives working in a virtual environment. Our children have never known a time when their Dad wasn’t just in the next room working.”
Now that Bob and Susan are in their retirement years, they are still staying busy. As empty nesters, and having recently sold their Weddington NC home of 17 years, they currently live in Asheville, NC while waiting for their forever home to be built in the Blue Ridge Mountain community of The Coves at Mountain River Club in Lenoir, NC. And that is where Bearfoot Mountain Quilts comes into play, as Bob’s retirement plan is to take Susan’s love of quilting to the next level by actively operating a Freddie Longarm Computerized Quilting Machine by APQS, with a 12 foot frame, and turning Susan’s “quilting” passion into a full-fledged business.
Bob has been in the tech industry for almost 40 years. From GE Information Services to DXC Technologies, his career has been impressive, and accomplishments have been many. He has worked as an Executive in Professional Services Consulting, managing strategic accounts, nationally and internationally. Throughout his career he has continued to work with leading edge technologies from web based applications, wireless based networking and applications, cloud based services, and the implementation of Artificial Intelligence.
That’s not all, though, as Bob has builders, contractors, and masons in his extended Vaughn family tree that have had a great influence on him growing up. He has always loved staying busy with some big project, from home additions, building decks, putting up garages, laying hardwood floors, landscaping, and more; and, Bob plans on being involved in every aspect of his new home build this year (2023).
(Photo: Big Bear was all smiles on this North Carolina Sunday morning)
For the past 2 years, Bob and Susan have been planning and deciding on house plans, purchasing property to build their next house, and preparing for this life experience. They purchased a 3 acre lot in The Coves of Mountain River Club in Lenoir, NC, and found a great home plan for their retirement needs – a one story farmhouse plan from Steve Madden Architect and Architectural Designs #56510SM. They can’t wait to move in, and will be thrilled to finally be able to start their Longarm Quilting business from the new home studio.
Susan shares her stories, fine art, crafts, quilts, and life experiences on her blog, Raisin Toast Her artwork can be seen at Mary Susan Vaughn Fine Art.
Bearfoot Mountain Quilts is the online home for Bob and Susan’s Longarm quilting business. Susan will be creating quilt tops, Bob will be quilting the layers together on the computerized longarm quilting machine, and Susan will do the binding finish and selling them here. They will also be offering longarm quilting services to those quilters who want professional quilting done on their quilt creations. You will also find quilting tutorials here on this site. Bob and Susan look forward to longarm quilting your quilt tops and working with you!
(Photo: Our new home build will look something like the image above)