A quilter’s dream store has opened in the heart of downtown Buckley.

Front Porch Quilts has opened for business at 832 Main St.

“It wasn’t easy,” said longtime quilter Lorna Anderson, “but with the help of my daughter-in-law Erin Anderson and the Crystal Quilters of Enumclaw, led by Vonda Snope, we were able to get this place ready for business.”

Snope’s volunteerism was greatly appreciated.

“She just came in and volunteered out of the goodness of her heart, to color coordinate some 400 bolts of material for me, Anderson said. “She was down on her hands and knees sweating away. I certainly owe her a huge debt of gratitude, for helping me get things in order.”

Snope will again be lending her expertise when she teaches two classes at Front Porch Quilts during September. The initial workshop will be a double-binding class from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday and the second will come from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 19 and will involve putting together a very fun and easy tessellating place mat.

“Classes are important because quilting is a very social activity,” Anderson said. “Women get together with other women and chat and it is fun to see new patterns and learn new techniques from teachers, who have been quilting for years and have learned from their trial and error mistakes.”

Anderson, who has raised two sons and lived in Buckley for more than 25 years, has been mastering the fine art of quilting for the past decade, but says that it is strictly her husband Kearney’s business and that she is just a helper.

“Kearney is the businessman and I am what you might call the facilitator or coordinator,” she said. “We both know how the retail business works. We probably won’t make much money for the first few years, although people in this town have embraced us and told us how nice it is to have another legitimate business in the Buckley downtown area, which we considered a favorable response and was sort of validating.”

Front Porch Quilts will be having its grand opening from Sept. 8 to Sept. 13, during which time everything in the store will be 10 percent off and there will be a drawing to win a basket of goodies, estimated to be worth more than $200.

Front Porch Quilts is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. The shop’s phone number is 360-761-7185.

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