This space has been a long time coming….more than 20 years in the making!

For many years, members from Kingswood United Methodist Church in Buffalo Grove would spend one Tuesday morning a week in Jo Stone’s basement, cutting donated fabric and sewing laprobes with donated machines. They completed 24 laprobes per month, as some of the ladies would take squares home and sew the tops together at home on their own time. As folks heard about this ministry, more and more fabric and machines were donated to the cause, until most of one room had to be relegated to fabric storage and there were 14 sewing machines stored in the main room in their basement that had to be brought out and set up every time they wanted to meet. Many people came and went over the course of this ministry, and many friendships were forged. There was always coffee and some freshly home-baked cookies for fuel, and everyone looked forward to the social time. When the Covid 19 pandemic hit, they had to stop production for a couple of years and when everything ramped back up again, it just wasn’t feasible to continue in the way they had been working before.

James Preston, head pastor at Kingswood, Buffalo Grove, offered two rooms at the Deerfield campus for this mission to continue forward. The two churches had recently begun to operate as one unit, and the space in the basement at the Deerfield facility was available, but in need of a little updating. Over the course of about 6 months, new paint was added, Mike Schauer added some electric for us, Terry Rasset scraped up preschool throw rugs that had been stuck to the floor for many years, and the cupboards and countertops were dressed up with new surfaces. Terry moved tables into the space and we added new surfaces to those as well to dress them up a bit! Krist Neumann was asked to cover the old mural of a barn and farm animals with a new mural of a giant sewing machine…here are some pictures of those updates:

We have partnered with the North Suburban NeedleArts Guild and they have contributed machines, fabric and funds to build a much needed 4×8 foot cutting table. We bought the parts, and more Kingswood family built the table, including Dick Stone and Jo’s grandson, Jeremy. One of NSNG’s members also contacted https://rework-furniture.com/ which ended up donating 22 adjustable office chairs to our rooms, which have been absolutely wonderful.

We have about 20 machines on the tables at all times, now, including sergers, embroidery machines, a dedicated quilting machine and regular sewing machines. It has been used by 4 different guilds within the first 6 months of opening, and we have eyes to more involvement with the community as time goes on.

We have added many items to the list of things we are making to donate there, that goes far beyond the original laprobe mission. We have kits and directions to make port pillows for cancer patients, pillowcases for women’s shelters, fidget mats for memory care patients, cat kickers and dog beds for local animal shelters, and will soon be starting flannel hearts to give to preemie newborns with mother’s scent on them, and “quilted hugs” to warm cold shoulders and necks.

We recently made over 200 pocket prayer squares to distribute at both Kingswood campuses, with the help of others who are not even members…it’s a very collaborative space and we are always open to new ideas and volunteers.