STANWOOD – Sharon Szekely is keenly aware that the person next to her in the checkout line at the grocery store might be a relative of someone serving in Iraq.

Or that the barista brewing coffee down the street could be the girlfriend of a wounded soldier at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort Lewis.

“And when I drive late at night and pass a house with all the lights on, I wonder if those people are affected in some way by the war,” she said.

Szekely, 52, of Camano Island, is one of group of women from Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties who are active in the statewide American Hero Quilts project.

These volunteers sew at home and then meet for a full day each month, usually in Stanwood, to make quilts for wounded service men and women.

“The quilts are a way to let someone know we appreciate what they’ve gone through and that we care about them,” Szekely said. “No matter what you think about the war, you only have to see a few faces in the newspaper or on TV to make you think about the soldiers and their families.”

The quilt project was started in 2004 by Vashon Island resident Sue Nebeker after she read about a young Iraq combat veteran who, possibly feeling abandoned, committed suicide. She determined then that as a quilter she could help.

The American Hero Quilts project has attracted quilters from both ends of the political spectrum to sew comforting, high-quality cotton quilts made in patriotic colors and patterns, Nebeker said.

The Stanwood-Camano quilting group that Szekely belongs to rates high on Nebeker’s list of project volunteers, she said.

“Sharon is fabulous and so good at drumming up enthusiasm for the project,” Nebeker said. “Sharon and her group have worked so hard on behalf of our wounded warriors and to make sure we have enough quilts to send to Madigan.”

Nebeker’s connection at the regional Army hospital recently asked that the quilt project supply 100 quilts a month for Madigan, she said.

When Nebeker shared that information with Szekely, the Camano Island resident said she was even more determined to increase the production of quilts by the local group.

“I said, ‘OK, OK, OK, we can do this.’ But we need to get more people out to help us,” Szekely said. “You don’t have to be a quilter. You can pin pieces or iron or buy fabric.”

Since January, the Stanwood-Camano group has sent Nebeker more than 50 quilts, has more than 15 ready to send and more than 25 in various stages of completion. From start to finish, it takes about 10 hours to make each quilt, Szekely said.

A professional quilter and longtime seamstress, Szekely uses a Gammill long-arm hand-guided quilting machine to do the finish quilting and bring the quilt top, batting and bottom together.

She bought the machine in 2003 while her husband Jim, a Boeing employee and an Air Force reservist, was serving at a support base in Saudi Arabia.

“When I think about all the people serving now, I feel so grateful that Jim came home,” she said. “And I’m grateful that he’s supportive of the quilt project and puts up with buzz of the Gammill. It’s in the living room.”

Szekely grew up in Granite Falls, the daughter of Betty and Rodney Carpenter. Her father was the great-grandson of homesteaders and her mother was a community activist.

It was a sheltered sort of small-town existence, with summers spent with extended family hiking at Monte Cristo and winter days learning how to sew, she said.

“It was the best place to grow up,” Szekely said. “My family gave back to the community, but that was just part of life, that was all I knew.”

While raising her daughter Joanna, now 28, Szekely honed her skills as a seamstress, even sewing wedding dresses for customers.

“I L-O-V-E – love – to sew,” she said. “I’ve been known to take my sewing machine on vacation.”

Szekely said she started quilting about 27 years ago and now makes quilts for fabric shops and does commission work.

“I enjoy working with the colors, fabrics and patterns in quilting,” she said. “The American Hero Quilts project makes it a passion.”

And the fact that some soldiers have asked to be buried in the quilts makes it very emotional, she said.

One volunteer at the Stanwood quilting bees has been Sedro-Woolley resident Elinor Nakis, a Gold Star mom whose son Nathan died in 2003 while serving with the National Guard in Iraq.

“My heart really goes out to families of the wounded. The quilt project is a way to bring hope and bring us together to take care of our troops.” Nakis said.

Szekely said she is humbled by the hard work of Nakis and the other women involved in the American Hero Quilts project.

“They are a great group of women and such good friends,” she said. “The quilts are our expression of love and comfort.”

Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427 or gfiege@heraldnet.com.