The room buzzes with activity. Hugs are exchanged. Ladies sit at tables, needle and thread in hand as they work on various projects.

This is typical of a meeting of Quilters on the Rock, a not-for-profit quilt guild that meets monthly at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Coupeville.

Many in attendance make a beeline for quilter Lynn Scoby, who facilitates the American Hero Quilts project on Whidbey and Camano islands. Some present her with finished quilt-tops, some with completed quilts, others ask for a kit and still others just pause to chat.

“The social side (of quilting) is as important as the creative,” Scoby said.

But love of quilting translates into a love of helping others for many of the members of Quilters on the Rock. The group has a Community Quilts branch which provides quilts to patients at Whidbey General Hospital undergoing cancer treatment, to Citizens Against Domestic and Sexual Abuse (CADA), to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Island County, the pregnancy care center and various other organizations.

“They are tangible gifts of love. I think that’s what the mantra is for Community Quilts,” said quilter Ramona Tankersley, a retired Navy nurse. “Those quilts stay on the island. They are for those that are in need on the island.”

The American Hero Quilts are different.

“When I found out about this program, I thought ‘this is perfect,’” said Scoby. “This is something I can do that’s meaningful to me. I don’t have to get involved in the political side or the controversy. This is comfort, this is what we do.”

American Hero Quilts was founded in 2004 by Vashon Island resident Sue Nebeker. She read an article about a 22-year-old soldier who had done two tours of duty in Iraq — he committed suicide after returning home. She wanted to find a way to help.

“I’m old enough to remember Vietnam,” Nebeker said. “I felt like if we could make quilts for wounded warriors it would help. I was trying to find a way to make a difference so it wasn’t like Vietnam.”

Scoby discovered the program in 2005, and brought it to the Quilters on the Rock board, asking if she could present the project to members.

“I thought then people who are interested could contribute fabric or be involved and share in this project,” Scoby said. “But I didn’t want to compete with the community project.”

After a year or two, Quilters on the Rock added the hero quilts to the budget, providing some funds each year so Scoby can purchase fabric and other supplies. Another group, Fidalgo Island Quilters, passes the hat and also provides an annual contribution.

“We consider the cost of a quilt to be $300. That includes the front, back and batting,” said Nebeker. “Most quilters provide their own fabric, so we’re looking at people having donated over $3 million worth of just materials.”

To date, American Hero Quilts has sent 10,016 quilts. Nebeker said she receives quilts from across the country and sends more than 200 quilts a month. The Family Services Program at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma gets at least 100 quilts a month. Another 100 a month are sent to Afghanistan. She said Island County quilters make up a significant portion of the quilts they’ve received.

“What your group does over there, they’re really prolific. One thing that is amazing to me, I’ve never seen the same quilt come from there, and there’s only so much you can do with red, white and blue fabric,” Nebeker laughed.

“But they have a very clear understanding that they’re making something for a hero, and you can see the care and love put into it,” she continued.

Creative process

Scoby likens the process of making a quilt to putting a meal on the table.

“You have to pick the fabric and pick the pattern, so that’s like picking your menu and your recipes,” she explained. “Then I cut the fabric into a kit.”

People take the kits, which include the fabric and pattern, which they can work at them at their own pace.

“Some of the same people do it over and over and some people try to do one a year,” Scoby said. “Some get it back to me the next month, some take a few months, but they just keep trickling back.”

“There’s some members that just quilt. This is what they do to stay busy or keep sane,” said Tankersley. “So some buy their own fabric and some will just come and get a kit and they’ll just do it up and give it back and take another one.”

“For some of them it’s a kind of therapy, because they don’t have to pick the fabric, pick the pattern,” Scoby said. “It’s all cut for them so they can just sit down and sew.”

Because there are quilters at different levels, Scoby and Tankersley said the patterns are kept relatively simple, but still interesting to make.

“We rely a lot on the fabrics, on the prints, to make them interesting,” Scoby said.

When the quilt tops are given back Scoby, they are ferried to Stanwood where a quilting group there holds work parties to finish the hero quilts.

There is an emotional reward worth more than any dollar value attached to these quilts.

“When we make quilts, the hope is a wounded warrior will think of it as a metaphoric hug,” Nebeker said. “We hope it will help in the healing process.”

“They’re heirlooms for some people, for some of them it’s a shroud — they bury their loved one in the quilt,” Scoby said. “For some of them who have been brain-injured, they identify with the quilt like a small child does, like a security blanket.

“To realize that our quilts are affecting people like this and the families that write us the thank you notes, are just heartwarming,” she continued. “I can’t even read them out loud I get such a lump in my throat.”

As the U.S. moves toward removing troops from Iraq and the drawdown in Afghanistan, Nebeker said she isn’t sure exactly what the future holds, although she said she knows she can’t do it forever.

“When and if we pull out of Afghanistan, then I’ll make a decision,” she said. “I do have to say that along the road of doing this we’ve discovered a lot of people who have been in combat in other wars who have not healed.”

“There will be somebody else in need,” Tankersley said. “Something else will come up.”