Published: March 12, 2008 12:30 pm            

Women sew hero quilts for wounded troops

QUINLAN, Texas — The women hard at work at Faith Baptist Church in Quinlan know that the American soldiers serving overseas sacrifice a lot.



The women know the soldiers don’t always return home unscathed.



“How can you thank anyone who has been hurt?” asked Sandy Cheney of Quinlan as she carefully stitched a square.



It’s impossible to fully thank the soldiers or comfort the families who have lost loved ones, Cheney said. But the women are trying to bring a little bit of joy to wounded troops through a project they have adopted called “American Hero Quilts.”



More than 10 women bring their lunches and meet for several hours every Thursday at the Faith Baptist Church to work on quilts. Since the women started meeting in mid-January, they have sewn more than 20 quilts, which will all be shipped to a military hospital in Germany to be given to wounded soldiers and Marines on their way home.



While American Hero Quilts are made by groups across the country, said Trenna Glasscock, who saw a segment about the quilts on the national news and became inspired, the Quinlan group has a unique take on the quilts.



“I decided we needed to do this,” Glasscock said, who is organizing the local effort.



Every quilt is made out of blue jeans — 96 squares to be exact. Attached to the back of the patches of blue jeans are pieces of patriotic fabric. There’s a quilt for most branches of the military as the ladies have purchased fabric with the emblems of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines.



Once stitched together into a 4-by-8, 100 percent cotton quilt to fit a military cot, each quilt is equipped with a “Prayer Pocket” where a prayer written by anyone who wants to contribute is later added.



“We just tell them that we’re praying for them,” said Royse City resident Wanda Bailey, whose husband is pastor at the church.



People from across the area will then be given the opportunity to write messages on each patch.



Messages range form “When you feel forgotten, remember you are not. You’re in our prayers,” to “Thank you all for our freedom!” to “Your effort is not in vain nor forgotten” to “You are our hero!” to “You rock!”



It was the “You rock!” messages written by students at Quinlan Independent School District’s Intermediate School, that had Cheney chuckling.



“Whoever gets that one will get a kick out of it,” she said, grinning.



Tears glisten as some of the women talk about the effort.



“I get emotional just thinking about it,” said Gail Bohmfalk of Lone Oak.



Bohmfalk is so passionate about the work that she — along with many others in the group — works on the quilts from her home.



“My house is covered in blue jeans,” she said. Just last weekend, she made her husband turn around and head back to a yard sale in Greenville after Bohmfalk spotted piles of jeans for sale.



When she explained to the yard sale’s owner why she was buying the jeans, the owner knocked the price down from a dollar to 50 cents a pair.



“She was thrilled to death (to find out what we were doing),” Bohmfalk said, and she bought at least 20 pairs of the jeans. “It’s amazing what people will do.”



Not every woman involved had experience with sewing.



Natalie Hall of Quinlan said she could barely sew a button onto a piece of cloth before joining the “American Hero Quilt” group.



The first time she made her own quilt, it took her a month to cut the squares because she cut each of the 96 squares one square at a time. She said with a laugh that she didn’t realize that she could cut several squares at once.



But, she said, it’s all worth it when she thinks about how injured troops will benefit and how far the group has come.



“We started with just a few ladies,” she said. “Now we have an empire here.”



Janelle Stecklein writes for Greenville (Texas) Herald Banner.

        

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