Mary Tendall Etherington and Connie Tesene have been business partners at Country Threads since 1983, shortly after both moved to Garner, Iowa. The business started as a wholesale quilt-pattern company that soon expanded into a retail quilt shop on Mary's small farm in north central Iowa. Together they have published more than 20 quilt-pattern books and over 800 individual patterns. Their designs have appeared in "American Patchwork and Quilting, Quilt Sampler", and several other national craft magazines.