Tea towel time
By Judy Hayworth, Journal correspondent | Posted: Monday, May 08, 2006
Armeda Jenness of Kingsley, Iowa, embroiders towel sets for sale at the Floyd Valley Hospital in Le Mars, Iowa. (Photo by Judy Hayworth)
KINGLSEY, Iowa --Armeda Jenness pulled her embroidery hoop from her sewing box in April of 2004 and started on a tea towel.
Since then she has satin stitched, used the lazy daisy, the French knot, and the running and outline stitches on her way through 109 tea towel sets.
Those tea towels are Jenness' contribution to the Floyd Valley Hospital Auxiliary, which operates the gift shop at the hospital in Le Mars, Iowa.
"Our gift shop wouldn't exist without our volunteers," says Patti Donlin, past president of the auxiliary and one of the managers of the shop. "The gift shop is run by an all-volunteer staff and because of that is more a courtesy to our patrons and staff. It's a service for our hospital."
In addition to operating the gift shop and embroidering tea towels, volunteers from Le Mars, Remsen, Kingsley and Merrill craft other items found in the store. Flannel baby blankets, baby denim quilts, baby afghans, kitchen netting scrubbers, bookmarks, doilies, hot pads, angel towels, kitchen towels, and table runners are made.
Volunteers, such as Marvel Hartel, Marian Ream, Mary Turner and Laura Lauters, offer their own specialities.
Some 362 volunteers worked for the auxiliary in 2005.
Gerri Jones, who compiles volunteer hours for the auxiliary, reports that 3,850 towels were embroidered for calendar year 2004-2005, and in 2005, 17 volunteers spent more than 7,573 hours working on tea towels. A set of seven towels sells for $16.
Tea towels are also sold at the Plymouth County Fair at Le Mars and the Marcus Fair.
Tea towel money is returned to the shop and used to keep it running.
"Any excess from the gift shop is given to the hospital by the auxiliary. We have just donated money for a new microscope for the laboratory. Other funds have been used to upgrade patient rooms, to secure various clinics that come on a regular basis to the hospital, and three scholarships. Those scholarships support someone from Le Mars, a Plymouth County area student, and the hospital education department," Donlin says.
"Our volunteers are vital to the program of the auxiliary, and we have grown to be like a family," she adds. "If one of our regulars at the gift shop doesn't show up, our fear is not that the shop many not open, but that something has happened to that person. For some of our volunteers, the work they do is important not only for the gift shop but for themselves as well."
Jenness could be one of those as she began her towel embroidery after a close friend, Ethel Hodge, died. "She was in the nursing home, and I spent a lot of time with her; that took up a lot of my time," Jenness says.
That care of one grew into volunteer work that benefits others.
Jenness estimates that four hours are needed to complete a set, but adds, "I'm not really sure because when I get one set done, I get up and start another."
Jenness, 83, who also likes to cross stitch, learned the art of embroidery from her mother "when I was about 12," she says. "Mother could also tat and crochet and quilt. Quilting was her thing. The first thing I did was a three-piece set for a buffet."
Since then she has satin stitched, used the lazy daisy, the French knot, and the running and outline stitches on her way through 109 tea towel sets.
Those tea towels are Jenness' contribution to the Floyd Valley Hospital Auxiliary, which operates the gift shop at the hospital in Le Mars, Iowa.
"Our gift shop wouldn't exist without our volunteers," says Patti Donlin, past president of the auxiliary and one of the managers of the shop. "The gift shop is run by an all-volunteer staff and because of that is more a courtesy to our patrons and staff. It's a service for our hospital."
In addition to operating the gift shop and embroidering tea towels, volunteers from Le Mars, Remsen, Kingsley and Merrill craft other items found in the store. Flannel baby blankets, baby denim quilts, baby afghans, kitchen netting scrubbers, bookmarks, doilies, hot pads, angel towels, kitchen towels, and table runners are made.
Volunteers, such as Marvel Hartel, Marian Ream, Mary Turner and Laura Lauters, offer their own specialities.
Some 362 volunteers worked for the auxiliary in 2005.
Gerri Jones, who compiles volunteer hours for the auxiliary, reports that 3,850 towels were embroidered for calendar year 2004-2005, and in 2005, 17 volunteers spent more than 7,573 hours working on tea towels. A set of seven towels sells for $16.
Tea towels are also sold at the Plymouth County Fair at Le Mars and the Marcus Fair.
Tea towel money is returned to the shop and used to keep it running.
"Any excess from the gift shop is given to the hospital by the auxiliary. We have just donated money for a new microscope for the laboratory. Other funds have been used to upgrade patient rooms, to secure various clinics that come on a regular basis to the hospital, and three scholarships. Those scholarships support someone from Le Mars, a Plymouth County area student, and the hospital education department," Donlin says.
"Our volunteers are vital to the program of the auxiliary, and we have grown to be like a family," she adds. "If one of our regulars at the gift shop doesn't show up, our fear is not that the shop many not open, but that something has happened to that person. For some of our volunteers, the work they do is important not only for the gift shop but for themselves as well."
Jenness could be one of those as she began her towel embroidery after a close friend, Ethel Hodge, died. "She was in the nursing home, and I spent a lot of time with her; that took up a lot of my time," Jenness says.
That care of one grew into volunteer work that benefits others.
Jenness estimates that four hours are needed to complete a set, but adds, "I'm not really sure because when I get one set done, I get up and start another."
Jenness, 83, who also likes to cross stitch, learned the art of embroidery from her mother "when I was about 12," she says. "Mother could also tat and crochet and quilt. Quilting was her thing. The first thing I did was a three-piece set for a buffet."
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