CLAREMONT — One day last month, Louisa and Darren Grindle arrived at the Claremont quilt shop they had purchased more than a year before to find that a drain pipe had burst in the bathroom, causing water — as deep as five inches in some places — to pool on the floor.

The couple, who live in White River Junction, tried to salvage what they could.

“I knew it was going to be a nightmare, but it’s one of those things,” Darren Grindle, 54, said about his first impressions of the flooding. “Well, what else (are you) going to do? Get some squeegees, put it out the door.”

The Thursday night following the flood, Louisa Grindle, 47, put a call out to her customers: Was anyone available to come to the shop — Golden Anchor Quilting in the Market Basket Plaza on Washington Street — the next day to help move products and machines into a storage pod?

Forty-five people showed up. They moved more than 1,000 bolts of fabric. Employees from Town Fair Tire came over to move the heavier shelving units.

“She’s going to make it and we’re all here to help,” said Tina Downing, a Cornish resident who has made numerous quilt samples for the shop.

The support didn’t stop in the week that followed.

People stopped by to bring food and give Louisa Grindle hugs. She received dozens of messages and emails, all with the same theme: “We’re here, and if you need anything, what do you need? Just tell us.”

Grindle said she interprets the response to the flooding as being in keeping with the community they had hoped to create when they opened the shop.

“Our focus is community and giving people a place to gather and be creative and create beauty and heal and feel welcome and loved and cherished and valued,” Louisa Grindle said during an interview at the shop in early March. “It’s very clear in the wake of this flood that we’ve accomplished that.”

While they hoped to reopen this week, the water damage has proved more extensive than initially thought and the timeline for welcoming customers back for in-person shopping is now open-ended.

‘Solace and peace’

The shop is the realization of Louisa Grindle’s longtime dream.

During her years working as a nurse, she’d dive into a project after her often-chaotic work day. A sense of calm would come over her.

“That’s always been part of how I heal,” she said. “As a nurse and all of the challenges that I faced working in health care and the sadness and the heaviness, I always found solace and peace and light in my creative space when I could make something beautiful.”

She has always been at peace browsing through supplies, imagining the possibilities that could come from the materials.

“I would go to the shops and just like, someday, someday I’m going to do this,” Louisa Grindle said.

When she heard Four Pines Quilting, which had been in business since 2001, was slated to close, she sunk her savings into purchasing the shop. “Here it was someday,” she said.

Darren Grindle — then her fiance — gave his full support. The couple invested $275,000 into the business.

In the months that followed the purchase, he took to YouTube, talked to technical support and learned how to use the two long-arm quilting machines, which are similar to the machines he encountered when he worked in manufacturing, which involve programming machines to complete a certain task, in this case finishing quilts with intricate designs made of thread that connect the top, batting and backing.

In the last year, Darren, a former long-haul trucker, has finished more than 800 quilts on the machines named Gladys and Gertrude.

“The most important part to me is I’m making heirlooms,” he said. “I’m making something that people will enjoy long after I’m gone.”

When the Grindles purchased the shop, they gave it a new name and a new slogan.

Golden Anchor Quilting — “where community is the fabric of our dreams” — became its own sort of landing spot for the couple.

Together, they got to know those who were regulars at the shop formerly known as Four Pines Quilting, a 2,200-square-foot storefront, and also began to draw new customers.

They also made themselves at home in the space. The front of the shop contains fabric and other quilting supplies.

Behind that, there’s a curtained off room where Darren Grindle works on quilts using the long-arm quilting machines. Toward the back of the shop is the classroom, bathroom, offices and storage space.

In spite of some initial missteps such as ordering too much inventory, the Grindles oversaw a period of growth for the business. Before the flooding, the shop’s calendar was full with weekly crafting groups, classes and charitable sewing days, where people work together on projects for nonprofit organizations.

They are the only two employees: friends and family members also contribute. Some customers participate in the shop’s ambassador program, where they assist for discounts on products, services and classes.

Downing is one of those volunteers.

“She’s done wonders. Just amazing,” Downing said of Louisa. “To bring it back to a group where you can come in and sew and hang out.”

‘The community is intact’

The business’ growth was put on pause the morning of Feb. 26.

Though Gladys and Gertrude were spared in the flood, half of the classroom sewing machines were not. Seven machines need to be replaced, at a cost of roughly $20,000 each. The shop brings in about 40% of its income from classes and those have been put on pause until the clean up is completed.

“It was a pretty heartbreaking pile to look at, but we are insured, so we’re just waiting for the insurance company to do what’s right,” Louisa said.

The Grindles have also had support from other business owners including Meagan Filion, owner of Frank’s Bargain Center, a fabric and craft supply store in Charlestown that Filion purchased last June. Filion, who does not have a background in crafting or sewing, connected with Louisa Grindle to learn more about the industry.

“It’s been a really great community resource,” Filion said in a phone interview. “She’s been fantastic helping me learn.”

Filion stopped by Golden Anchor in the days after the flood to offer storage space at her own shop and also support.

“It’s just a lot. It’s overwhelming when you’re trying to build your business,” Filion said in a phone interview.

The shop’s YouTube studio, where the couple shot weekly videos, was damaged. So too were the floors in her office; on the door there are two signs “Underestimate me, that’ll be fun,” reads one.

The damage is, in a sense, overwhelming. “But the community is intact,” Louisa Grindle said.

The couple will also go ahead with a Quilts of Valor Retreat at the White River Junction VA Medical Center from March 28 through 30. Volunteers have a goal of making 100 quilts for veterans in the region. Makers and helpers are needed for the event and more information can be found at goldenanchorquilting.com.

Louisa Grindle said she’s been humbled and “overwhelmed with gratitude” by the people who have turned out to support the couple and the shop.

“They’re able to come here and help us recover because ... Golden Anchor quilting is important to them,” she said. “And when I thank them, they stop me and say, ‘No, thank you.’ ”

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@ vnews.com or 603-727-3221.