Sewing for injured soldiers Sewing for injured soldiers (October 01, 2004)

Quilt-a-thon to be held in Mountain View

By Julie O'Shea

Sarah Shemwell saw the plea for help while flipping through a magazine at her Los Altos home a few weeks ago. A quilting guild in Maryland had apparently been stitching together quilts for soldiers coming back injured from Iraq. But with an estimated 30 wounded troops arriving daily at Andrews Air Force Base, the group realized it needed to appeal to its fellow sewers across the nation.

Shemwell, a quilter since age 8, didn't have to think twice about the task presented to her. "Let's do it," she remembers telling her mother Lisa.

The effort started last month with a group of friends sitting around Lisa Shemwell's kitchen table. The determined Los Altos sewers have so far completed 10 quilts and hope to finish about a dozen more before sending the homemade keepsakes to the injured soldiers arriving home on the East Coast.

The Shemwells are inviting those interested to join them at Eddie's Quilting Bee for a sew-a-thon on Oct. 8 and Nov. 11 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. The store is located at 264 Castro St. in downtown Mountain View. Supplies will be provided, and Lisa Shemwell said there will be room at the table for both quilting experts and novices.

"To me, it's just like a 'thank you,'" Sarah Shemwell said of the Quilts for Injured Soldiers project. "I really respect [our troops].

"The people who don't support the soldiers, that gets me," she added, her voice cracking over the phone.

Since June 2003, the Quilters Guild of Southern Maryland has gathered more than 1,000 quilts from around the nation for troops critically injured in the war. And now, every injured soldier landing at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland is given a welcome-home quilt. The Maryland base is usually the first U.S. stop for wounded troops.

"It's been awesome. The [servicemen] and women are so appreciative," said Pat Baker, who is chairing the quilting project. "The response by the American people is just amazing."

The Maryland quilting guild originally started off with just 98 quilts and 10 knitted afghan blankets. The drive has since ballooned, and Baker said she now regularly receives shipments of 70 or more quilts to her home on a weekly basis. One blanket even came from a World War II veteran who wrote that he wanted to show his respect and admiration to the men and women defending America today.

"The majority of the people in our quilting guild remember the Vietnam War. That was our era," Baker said. Returning soldiers then "were not appreciated. They were spit upon. ... We did not want to see a repeat of that."

Shemwell, a graduate of Homestead High School in Cupertino, has several friends fighting in Iraq. She said it is never easy to see them go.

Her boyfriend's best friend, Kenny, who is in his early 20s, is on his second tour of duty in Iraq. About a month ago, he was almost killed while driving his convoy out of enemy territory where they were under attack. He is scheduled to come home in January, but that could change.

In the meantime, Kenny's wife takes comfort in the quilt project, according to Shemwell.

"She totally supports it," Shemwell said. "It really just shows that people are thinking of them."

Baker said she has received dozens of photos of soldiers, smiling as they hold their quilts up the camera.

"They are surprised and elated," Baker said. "I can tell you first hand that a gentleman who had served in Vietnam and received a quilt, told me 'Oh my God, what a drastic change from Vietnam and coming back from this.'"

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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