POST FALLS - Fourteen yards of fabric, 50 hours of labor, 1 mile of thread and lots of love and prayers for healing woven in.

That's the recipe behind Quilts of Valor.

The area group of the national foundation presented red, white and blue quilts - seven months of work - to 235 Idaho National Guard soldiers from North Idaho who returned from Iraq last fall.

On Sunday, 185 soldiers received quilts at the armory in Post Falls, while 50 others received the gifts earlier in Lewiston.

"Our purpose is to honor soldiers and veterans who have been touched by war," said Carla Gentry of Post Falls, among about 35 local volunteer quilters who participated in the project with assistance from others elsewhere. "When you consider that it takes almost three months to make each quilt, it shows the magnitude of the effort. We had people working night and day. It's a team effort."

Staff Sgt. Ryan Rogers of Post Falls said he found his quilt "comforting."

"It's special that people in the community still have a strong sense of patriotism," Rogers said. "I'll probably curl up with it. You can't let a good quilt go to waste."

Spc. Troy Badeaux of Sandpoint said it's a "heartfelt" gift.

"You can see the dedication of work," he said.

Vietnam veteran Mike Beckley, who received a quilt from the group two years ago, attended Sunday's ceremony and earlier had his picture taken with the quilt at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"It's recognition we never got, and I'm here to make sure what happened to us doesn't happen to them," Beckley said.

Each quilt has about $100 worth of material donated by the quilters. When you consider the amount of work that goes into the quilts, each one is worth between $250 and $400, depending on the design. Each has information such as who made made the quilt, the group, when it was made and who it was made in honor of.

"They're works of art," Gentry said. "Every quilt has a story."

The project is a labor of love for the quilters, Gentry said.

"It's hard to be a lukewarm quilter," said Gentry, whose father served in the Navy, husband is retired from the Air Force and son is in the Navy. "When you're a quilter, you're a little bit of a nut."

With about 22 million veterans in the country and 60,000 Quilts of Valor distributed nationwide thus far, the quilters know there's still work ahead.

But the group is going at it with grateful hearts and the hope the quilts will bring comfort to those who put their lives on the line to defend freedom.

"It makes me feel good," Gentry said.