Lutheran Sweat Shop
“I am not sure when the Sewing Bee was formalized,” Ina shared. “The earliest I remember was a small number of women making decorative items for Christmas and offering them for sale after church in the Fellowship Hall. This was while Duane Lokken was pastor and before the start of the enlargement of the church building.”
Ina and her husband had been snowbirds for several years before joining Desert Hills Lutheran Church in 1995. She cannot remember when she became a true member of the Sewing Bee.
“What I remember,” Ina continued, “is having a few long tables that we added pipes to the legs to make them tall enough to work on comfortably. They were scratched with a few splinters and marred surfaces and the church custodians set them up each week. Our supply storage area was half an ordinary-sized closet that we shared with sound equipment. We each brought what equipment we needed for the day and worked making simple 60 x 80 quilts out of 10” squares cut from whatever fabric we had available, usually supplied by the quilters themselves. These quilts were designated for Lutheran World Relief only. A very modest beginning.”
“In time, the building was enlarged, and our quilting output increased but we still used the floor to lay out the squares forming strips of squares to be sewn into our 60 x 80 tops. The new pastor stopped in one day and after surveying women on the floor rearranging pieces of material queried what was happening. I answered, ‘Lutheran Sweat Shop.’ He decided not to ask any further questions and fled!”
The Sewing Bee continues to grow in numbers of people, resources, space, equipment, and supplies. It grows in output and places for their quilts to go. So far in 2024, Sewing Bee distributed $13,725 worth of in-kind items such as quilts, blankets, and walker bags. God has truly blessed their venture and members.