They come twice a month from 10 counties. Some drive an hour and a half to get there.

Many are grandmas, some are retired, but they all have two things in common — they love to quilt, and they want to help those wounded in war.

Dee Turner, 83, of Warren County, joined the local Quilts of Valor group when it started in July 2005.

"I just thought it was a good thing," she said. "I want them to know that every stitch has a little bit of love in it."

Turner has been there a few times when a quilt has been presented.

"It was a tear-jerker — for me and the vet," she said. "And it makes you feel special."

The women don't hear back often from the active duty soldiers or veterans who get their quilts, but Turner recalled a note from one.

"She said getting the quilt was like having a bouquet of beautiful flowers in her windowsill, and I thought that was nice," Turner said.

Jean Jaeger, 70, of Warrenton, started the group after she saw a brochure at a quilting show in Paducah, Ky. She talked to another quilter, Jackie Heggemann of Marthasville, about it.

Heggemann, 72, had been in Vietnam with a community development team that helped refugees.

"That's where I learned real respect for the military because they saved my life on several occasions," she said. "This is my way to repay them for what they've done for me alone."

Initially, Heggemann made four quilts, and Jaeger made one. Then they had to raise the money to get them to the soldiers.

"In the beginning it was nip and tuck, but people are really generous," Jaeger said. "Several times we were running low on funds, and then a check came in the mail."

They started with about two dozen women and now have more than 100 quilters.

The group has shipped nearly 800 quilts. They've sent them to hospitals in Afghanistan, Germany and 26 states. More are ready to ship, and dozens of quilt tops have been donated; they just need hands to add a few thousand stitches.

The meeting sites alternate among Warren, Lincoln and St. Charles counties.

Recently, they gathered in the cafeteria of St. Vincent de Paul Grade School in Marthasville. After lunch, they paused for a few announcements.

Heggemann had two letters. One was from a Navy doctor working at a hospital in Afghanistan. He described his life as a trauma surgeon there and how a quilt like the ones the women make is placed over each one of the wounded.

The second, from the national arm of their group, said the group needs 60 quilts a week to meet the demand, and for December, it fell short by 173.

"I know we did as much as we could do," said Jaeger. "We sent 46 from the end of October to the end of the year."

Since then, Jaeger shipped six more to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center in Fort Gordon, Ga. That's where many soldiers are treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"We do have quilts ready for anybody who wants to take them home to sew," she said.

The women were sewing 14 different quilts; one was the group's 800th quilt, which features a star pattern and the Statue of Liberty.

"If you haven't put any stitches in it, feel free to come over and do so," Jaeger told the group. They try to do that for every hundredth quilt.

The majority of the quilts are red, white and blue. Some have eagles, a favorite of the Marines. Each one has a heart on it somewhere and a personalized label.

"The only thing they ask is that the backing be colored because of blood stains," Turner said, choking up.

After the quilts are finished, Jaeger washes them and places them in a bag with handles so they can hang easily from a wheelchair. A letter with pictures of the women who did the quilting goes with them.

Other than a break for lunch, the sewing is interrupted only when a quilt is finished. Jaeger rings a cowbell, and the women applaud. The quilters parade it around the room.

By the time they finish their circuit, Heggemann has another quilt on the frame, ready to be sewn.

"You don't get to rest around here," Jaeger said.