Stitching Comfort

Army Capt. Laura Stanley was in Iraq in May 2003 for Operation Iraqi Freedom. After sustaining injuries in a vehicle rollover, Captain Stanley was flown to the U.S. While she was recovering from her injuries, she received a blanket from the Project Linus Foundation.

This blanket made her think, “If I had died in my vehicle, what would my family have to remember me by?”

Captain Stanley thought of the wonderful quilts her mother had from her great-grandmother, the family quilt she has that her great-aunt hand pieced, and how much the quilts are cherished. She decided she wanted to make a quilt for everyone in her family.

“It would be something that I made for each of them specifically and they could remember me by if I died the next time I go to war,” she said.

During her rehabilitation, she visited her cousin in Kansas. Her cousin showed her the quilts her deceased great-aunt Gerry had made. She talked to Captain Stanley about all the quilting she was doing and Captain Stanley went back to Colorado Springs with the idea that she would give quilting a try. She had just moved to a new home and thought she would ask her neighbor, Donna, if she knew anything about quilting. Donna took her by the hand and said, “Let me show you something.”

She took Captain Stanley into her home and proceeded to show her all the beautiful quilts she had pieced throughout the years. Donna took Captain Stanley to her very first quilting store, Ruth’s Stitchery, which she still enjoys visiting each time she is in Colorado Springs.

“As I learned how to piece on my own, she was always open to me bringing over my latest project and discussing any new techniques I was learning or helping me choose the color that would be just right,” Captain Stanley said.

Even though she lives in Germany and doesn’t have Donna next door, Captain Stanley still sends her pictures of her latest quilts.

When Captain Stanley arrived in Germany in 2008, she saw an advertisement for the Rheinland-Pfalz Quilt Guild in the Kaiserslautern American.

“I like everything that the guild offers. I’ve never been a member of a guild before so I enjoy seeing other people’s projects, fabric choices, learning new techniques, and having others talk to me about my own projects,” she said.

But what she likes most about the guild are the classes and Stitch ‘n’ Gab on Fridays. She says being part of the guild exposes her to aspects of quilting that she would otherwise never know about.

The quilt guild makes quilts for wounded Soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center through the Quilts of Valor Program.

Captain Stanley is currently the commander of the Headquarter and Headquarters Detachment, 357th Air and Missile Defense Detachment, located on Rhine Ordnance Barracks.