The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON-Since purchasing the old Dayton Chronicle building at 358 East Main St. in September, Vonda and Mark Anderson have put in long hours, and have used lots of elbow grease, to renovate the building to accommodate their residence and her quilting business.

It took three months to strip everything down to the floor joists and expose the original brick walls, said Vonda Anderson.

During that process a 130-year-old fireplace was discovered on the main level, and another, older stone foundation from the 1800s was discovered beneath the street level, she said.

"The coal shoot was full of coal all the way to the top of the chimney," she said.

While work continues on the renovations, Anderson has been busy with her longarm quilting business.

The machine she uses at her Dayton shop is computerized, and Anderson said she can download a pattern from 7,000 patterns available to her.

"People make these beautiful tops and bring the top, backing, and quilt to me and I make a giant sandwich. It is like a 14 foot long sewing machine on steroids," Anderson said, describing the process. "I can accommodate up to King size."

Anderson said she became interested in quilting while attending a quilting retreat in Lind, Wash., with her mother and sister in 2013.

"My mom and sister are avid quilters. I didn't have the patience for it. I mostly had U.F.O.s, or unfinished objects," said Anderson.

She said she tried her hand at a hand driven longarm machine while at the retreat, and she got hooked. "I really enjoyed it," she said.

Anderson said most of her customers come to her by word of mouth, and many are in Seattle, Walla Walla and Tri-Cities, as well as other places. Each week, she makes a trip to Tri-Cities to get projects from her customers, or to deliver the finished product to them.

Anderson's said her turn-around time for quilting is 1-2 weeks.

An Army veteran, Anderson is also making charity quilts, including for the local 4-H Club as well as for veterans, which she does every year.

Anderson said she posts a request on Facebook for stories about why a particular veteran deserves a quilt, and will choose a veteran to receive the quilt, based on the best response. She then sends the quilt to the letter writer, to give to their special veteran.

"I'm starting to work on that, possibly for Veteran's Day, 2019," she said.

Anderson also offers a 10% discount on quilts to all ex-military personnel.

Look for free motion quilting classes, and free quilt binding classes in 2019.

"I'm always up at the crack of dawn, and I'm the last one in bed," she said. "I don't have retail hours, but I am here 5 days a week and most Saturdays. Just stop by."

Anderson can be reached by phone at: (509) 876-7202 or by email at: snowbirdquilting@gmail.com, or on Facebook.