Quilting Helps This Vet with PTSD

He Quilts in His Long-Haul Truck!

After two tours as an Army Battle Command Systems operator in Iraq, Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Lee was discharged with PTSD. It took awhile once home to find a focus, but one day he discovered a Joanne’s Fabrics flyer in the mail and decided to make a runner for his Mom.

He and is wife soon decided to take a quilting class together and Andrew picked up the skills quickly. As it turns out, quilting was also good therapy for his PTSD.

Andrew with his “Iwo Jima” quilt.

Andrew completed 50 quilts in his first three years, many of them Quilts of Valor. The joy of giving something meaningful has helped to open up his locked down emotions related to being in combat situations.

Since he’s a long-haul trucker, Andrew has set up sewing space in the cab of his semi. There’s even room for full-sized ironing board. Trucking leaves plenty of time for quilting while on the road.

One of his largest projects is the impressive “Iwo Jima” quilt, which has 12,100 squares in it. The 110″ square quilt took him a year to complete.

There’s much more to Andrew’s story, which you’ll find in the following articles:

“How quilting helps an East Tennessee veteran deal with PTSD.”

“Veteran to display Iwo Jima quilt.”

And be sure to click here and follow Andrew’s ongoing quilting adventures on Facebook.

Source: The Quilt Show