Published: October 10, 2006 08:01 am      

Women use talent to honor servicemen

They work with thread and needles as they strive to create a memorial for the fallen.

They are three area women who have actively been involved in quilting projects that become remembrances for those who have lost a loved one in battle.

A national quilting project, called “Home of the Brave Quilts,” is headed up in Iowa by Sandi Carstensen, of Clinton. She has been involved in the effort for several years, explaining it all started with a simple request from her son-in-law, stationed in Iraq, for a pillowcase. That one case was followed by requests from his unit for more pillowcases, so Sandi contacted all of her quilting friends (including the online ones) and they began a series of “Operation Projects” — Operation Pillowcase, Operation Christmas Stockings and Operation Cuddle-Ups were born, all with the intent to provide comfort and support to the servicemen and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was during this time that Carstensen also became heavily involved in the production of the Home of the Brave Quilts. She explained how Civil War soldiers were presented with a pillowcase and a 4-by-7-foot quilt, rolled into a bedroll to take with them as they prepared to go off to battle. These bedrolls were produced by lady volunteers and distributed through the U.S. Sanitary Commission, the predecessor to today’s American Red Cross.

To honor those men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice in today’s battles, the 1860s tradition was resurrected — Carstensen and her colleagues nationwide produce a quilt, to be presented in memoriam, for the family of each fallen soldier. To date, Carstensen said the Iowa chapter has had to present quilts to 41 soldiers’ families; on Aug. 13, Carstensen traveled to the State Capitol in Des Moines to present quilts to a number of families, as well as one to the state and Gov. Tom Vilsack. The group currently has another quilt to complete and present to the wife of an Iowa soldier killed Aug. 20.

Also involved in a quilting project are Sharon Tyler and Janet St. Ores, who have been part of the “9-11 Memorial Quilts Organization.” Founded by Jeannie Ammermann in Tennessee, the group is comprised of quilters around the country, primarily in the Midwest, who have worked to produce a series of quilts honoring those men and women who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

St. Ores contacted the organization, volunteering her skills as a quilter. Ammermann told her of a group in Dixon, Ill., working on a 10-by-10-foot quilt dedicated to eight emergency services personnel — EMTs who voluntarily traveled to the Twin Towers when they first heard of the attack and lost their lives as they tried to save others.

St. Ores traveled to Dixon to spend time working on the EMS Memory Quilt. When the call went out for individuals to work on embroidering a “Memory Quilts” poem, she contacted Tyler in Clinton, who has a commercial embroidery machine. The two then combined their efforts for the next nine months to produce the framed quilt, which will be the companion piece to the organization’s 10-by-60-foot Victim Memory Quilt. On Sept. 7, St. Ores and other members of the quilters’ organization traveled to New York City for the dedication of five 2006 quilts. In addition to the Victims and EMS quilts, there was one for the Port Authority, the New York State Courts and the Fire Department of New York. Two previous quilts had been dedicated in 2005, and two more are scheduled for completion in 2007. All nine eventually will be on permanent display in the World Trade Center Memorial.

For many, a hobby is something enjoyed by the enthusiasts, and possibly those who get a Christmas or birthday present as a result of the work. The work done by these three women goes beyond that; the sacrifices made by the fallen are memorialized in each stitch.