Quilters give vets a warm welcome

In one corner of the classroom at Prince of Peace Episcopal Church, a group of women knotted blue thread atop layers of star-spangled fabric and cotton batting. In another corner, a sewing machine hummed over floral-patterned strips.

About a dozen ladies gathered that day in Woodland Hills for the monthly work party of the L.A. Veterans Quilt Project. Volunteers have stitched about 600 quilts for the project and donated them to local veterans wounded in the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We want them to feel loved,” said Karen Van Den Brink, a 61-year-old Encino resident who coordinates the project. “This is the way quilters do it. We don’t write speeches. We sew.”

Van Den Brink came up with the idea about three years ago, when she was president of the San Fernando Valley Quilt Assn. She heard about a group making quilts for the families of those killed in action and wondered: Why not do it for those who are injured?

“I grew up during the Vietnam years, and vets were treated very badly when they came home,” said Van Den Brink, a retired special education assistant. “We don’t want them to feel that way again.”

More than 60 quilters of all ability levels have participated since the project began. For some, it is just an artistic outlet, but most say they do it out of a sense of service. Many of them know people who fought in previous wars or recently served in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Joy Fisher, a 71-year-old Northridge resident who grew up in West Virginia, has several cousins whose children served in the current wars.

“The whole country is going about its business, but they’re paying a huge price,” Fisher said. “This is just a way of showing some compassion. . . . Being injured can be a very lonely experience.”

Donations from fabric stores, local quilt guild members and other members of the community have given them thousands of yards of paisley, plaid and heart-stamped cotton fabric to work with. Quilters usually take some of the fabric home, or use strips they have at home, to make tops that will cover a twin bed or the lap of a veteran in a wheelchair.

The quilters said they try to avoid designs that seem “old-ladyish.” Red, white and blue motifs and floral prints are quite popular.

“You’d be surprised how many men like flowers,” said Linda Leibon, 61, a Sherman Oaks resident who was putting a magenta border around pastel-colored blocks. “It reminds them of their mothers.”

At the monthly work parties, the women tie together the tops, batting layers and backing with square knots all over the quilt.

“We make sure we do enough tying so they don’t fall apart in the wash,” said Sharon Wascher, a 64-year-old West Hills resident, who kept her curved quilting needle handy by sticking it through the fabric of her shirt. “We remind vets these were meant to be used.”

Then some of the members take the quilts home to bind the edges and add a hand-embroidered label: “A Gift of Love From the L.A. Veterans Quilt Project.”

Van Den Brink, who calls herself the project’s “head schlepper,” usually takes the bundles to a volunteer coordinator at the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills, one of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical facilities in Los Angeles. The VA, which also receives donations from a national group called Quilts of Valor, distributes the quilts to other facilities in Los Angeles, Kern and Ventura counties, said Marianne Davis, chief of voluntary service for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.

“Having this kind of lovely, caring gift for them is just tremendous symbolism about the way America feels about its soldiers,” Davis said. “It doesn’t matter what their politics are, everybody cares.”

Sometimes the Quilt Project members themselves get to hand out quilts at VA-sponsored events.

“When I’ve had the opportunity to give them quilts, I say, ‘Any time you feel down, look at this and know this is a hug from the American people,’ ” Van Den Brink said.

Hearing these words, broad-shouldered young men sometimes break down and cry, she said.

It can get awkward when older veterans ask them for quilts, but the women have to explain that they can sew only enough quilts to give them to the most recent vets.

“We give them a hug and thank them and say, ‘Sorry no one thought to do this for you,’ ” Van Den Brink said. They usually understand.

At a recent welcome home event at the Sepulveda VA, the quilters’ booth was one of the most popular, second only to the booth where the Laker Girls were posing for pictures.

Juan Lara, 24, a Palmdale resident who returned from Iraq two years ago, picked out a blue quilt decorated with boats and an American flag.

Blue is his favorite color, he explained, and the flag reminded him of the patch he used to wear on his Army uniforms.

Lara, whose knee was injured in a roadside bomb blast, said he cherishes the quilt and shares it with his mother as a way of thanking her for her support during his deployment.

“I see it as something that is protection in a way,” he explained. “It’s comfort.”

Lara kept his Army uniforms, but he usually keeps them tucked away in his closet because he feels he has turned the page on that life. The quilt, on the other hand, gets smoothed out on his bed for all to see.

“I wouldn’t have gotten it if it reminded me of Iraq,” he said. “It reminds me more of being home.”

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jia-rui.chong@latimes.com