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Still sewing memories

A project that sends quilts to mourning military families is still going strong.

HUDSON - When 19-year-old Jessica Porter and her friend Ruthann Pleus, 22, came up with the idea to piece together one quilt for each family of every American service person killed in Iraq, there were less than 150 names on the list of the deceased.

The list of names has since grown almost three times as long.

Now, six months later, what began as a simple idea between two friends has exploded into a nationwide volunteer effort that continues to surprise Porter and her mother, Joanne Porter.

The St. Petersburg Times first reported their story on Sept. 8, about the same time The New York Times, CNN, Fox-13, and People Magazine also peeked in on the Hudson family. The original Times story can be found at www.sptimes.com/quilt

The Times recently caught up with the mother-daughter team again and found piles of specially stitched lap quilts ready for mailing, a huge long-arm quilting machine worth more than $15,000 on loan from the manufacturer and stacks of embroidered labels thanking families for the service of their children, their husbands, their parents and wives.

The Porters had recently returned from a donated trip to the Houston Quilt Show, where they circulated 1,000 flyers about their project, called "Operation Homefront Quilts." Their efforts still are drawing media attention, with the BBC, Channel One, the Houston Chronicle, and Newsday all relaying their story and prompting feedback.

But there still is a lot of work to do.

For more information about the project, visit www.westpascoquilters.org/operation_home_front_quilts1.htm

St. Petersburg Times: Since we last visited you in September, you've received donations of all types. Tell us what's shown up.

Jessica: It's been really wonderful. We've been getting a lot of donations of fabric and everything, but especially now, since the Houston show and the different articles, quilts are starting to come in. We just got one from Oregon. And two from Texas. Arizona.

Joanne: Two from Texas. One from Arizona. One from Oregon. And one from Alaska.

Jessica: And also there is the American Professional Quilting Systems machine out there, which has been really wonderful.

Times: How did that arrive?

Jessica: They shipped it down by tractor-trailer. It was so big.

Times: And you said you also got a huge shipment of thread?

Joanne: Oh yeah. Thirty-five boxes of thread.

Jessica: And we've gotten boxes and boxes of material. But it's all going.

Joanne: We've gotten 1,000 yards at least of fabric. But it's dwindling down.

Jessica: Five hundred yards of fabric from one manufacturer, but it is really dwindling down, because, like the ladies from the quilt guild, they're all picking up the fabric, taking it home, bringing back quilts. We've received definitely over 100 quilts. That includes ones we've shipped out, of course. We've received more than 100. It's really starting to go somewhere. And all the ladies, they've been working really hard. Last month was our best month yet as far as giving out fabric.

Times: When you started, the number of American soldiers killed was less than 150. In September, it was 287 and you had 14 quilts on their way. Now, it's more than 400. Is it getting overwhelming?

Jessica: Um, sometimes it feels overwhelming. But, you know, especially now that we know we have all this help coming in, now that we've got quilts coming on from all over the country, it's encouraging. And Bernina Sewing Machine manufacturer, their dealers have committed to 110 quilts.

Times: Oh my goodness. One-hundred-and-ten? How did that happen?

Jessica: Well, one of the top ladies from Bernina called and she said, "What do you need?" And I said, "We need quilts." So, they have hundreds of dealerships all over the country, so she started calling around and got 110 of them to commit to making quilts. So, hopefully they'll come through.

Times: Is there a point at which the death toll could be too high?

Jessica: Well. We're just, we're going to keep going. And, we said before, as long as Americans are dying over there, then we will keep sending quilts. So, for now, I will say yes, we're going to keep going.

Times: Have your feelings about the war in Iraq changed or developed in the course of this project?

Jessica: We supported the president at the beginning. We support him now. We thought this was necessary. I don't think it's changed. I think it's even become more justified when you see how the people have been repressed over there ... .

Times: So you continue to feel the war is justified?

Jessica: Yes, I do. They say we haven't found the weapons of mass destruction, but we've known he had chemical weapons, we've known he's used it on people, we've know Saddam is willing to invade his neighbors. He doesn't have any qualms about these things. When you think, you know, chemical and biological weapons, you've got this little bit of chemicals. They could be hidden anywhere. We may never find them, but that doesn't mean they weren't there.

Times: When do you think the war will be resolved?

Jessica: I don't know. When we were rebuilding Japan, we were over there for seven years. So, it hasn't even been a year yet. It's just impossible to say. I'm sure the military has a better idea of the timeline they're working on.

Times: (looking at the mounds of folded quilts piled atop two sofas) Did you ever think you'd see so many quilts at one time?

Jessica: That many quilts in this house, well, it's really neat. We've gotten a good response. A couple of people put it on the front of their Web sites.

Times: Yeah, I noticed that when I put your name and "quilts" into Google, all kinds of things show up now.

Jessica: Oh, really?

Joanne: We just received a stack of the embroidered labels that someone did and sent who we met at the Houston show.

Jessica: Yeah, not only are we getting quilts from all over, we're getting labels, too.

Joanne: (The quilts have) gotten more personal. You know, we had them with a personal note before and each quilt was designated to a particular soldier's family. But now they've got something even more special on the back of it, just to let them know that is not just some quilt and, here's your quilt.

Times: How many hours is it taking now a day on average?

Joanne: A good portion of the day.

Jessica: Yeah. As much as I can work on it.

Joanne: It's always something, whether it's getting in in the mail, sewing on labels.

Jessica: Quilting, working on the machine, doing the labels, doing the bindings. There's always something.

Joanne: Writing thank you notes for the contributions.

Jessica: Yeah. Especially now that we're getting all these quilts.

Times: Do you ever wonder what you were thinking when you started this?

Joanne: I don't.

Jessica: No. I guess I just think, wow, I had no clue. But I never wonder why I did it.

Joanne: We had no conception that it would ever turn out like this. That we would get this much help.

Jessica: It's been good.

Times: Do you get sad doing this?

Jessica: Well, it depends. Sometimes. I was reading the stories yesterday and I was updating my list and all the new names and it just, sometimes it gets kind of sad and you think think there are so many dying over there. But, they're over there doing their jobs. And so many of them, their parents and their sisters and their wives and siblings said they died doing what they loved. You know, they loved defending their country ... . That's how they wanted to be remembered, as a soldier. A lot of people, they don't necessarily want to be over there, but they are doing what they love.