Like the check that Anna May Paul slipped into Gwynn Hansen's hand Tuesday at Faith Lutheran Church, donations have kept the nearly derailed Black Hills Quilters Guild Christmas stocking project on track.

Paul's check was meant to help cover approximately $350 in shipping costs for the 200 homemade Christmas stockings that Hansen and the rest of the guild members filled with holiday cheer on Tuesday. By mid-November, they'll be on their way to military personnel serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other spots around the globe.

The guild's third annual Christmas stocking project almost didn't happen, however, when the theft of $500 worth of holiday-themed fabric threatened to end it. Three boxes of Christmas fabric disappeared in July from the church where the guild meets weekly to cut and sew the stockings. When news of the theft spread, quilters and others responded with disbelief and disappointment that quickly turned to donations of both cash and fabric.

"I just couldn't believe somebody would do that," said Judy Smither of the fabric loss. Smither is a quilt guild member whose son-in-law, Air Force MSgt. Rich Parsons, got one of last year's Christmas stockings while he was stationed in South Korea. Parsons is scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan in 2010.

But Smither and other guild members had their hearts warmed, and their fabric coffers refilled, when more than $650 in cash donations, as well as gifts of fabric, flowed in.

"Quilters always have a stash of fabric," said Smither.

The lost fabric never surfaced, but the stocking makers were back in business, thanks to the donations.

"We sort of regrouped," said Hansen, as she organized an assembly line crew on Tuesday to fill stockings.

Smither, Janet Noble and Marian Woidt are all quilters who have family members in the military, so it's easy for the group to come up with military units to send the stockings. Noble's nephew, Capt. Joe Noble, and Woidt's grandson, Marine Corps Sgt. Christopher Woidt, each got one of the much-appreciated stockings last year. They are filled with candy canes, gum, cough drops, breath mints, sunflower seeds, tissues, pens, pencils, notebooks and assorted food items, including hot cocoa mix, tea bags and powdered drink mix. Beef jerky was donated by Western Meats, Dr. James Bockwoldt gave toothbrushes and Black Hills Surgical Hospital contributed lip balm and stress balls.

The stockings, each bearing a "Great Faces, Great Places" button from the South Dakota Tourism Department, also come with a warm hand-knitted or fleece stocking cap. The caps are much appreciated in the cold winter nights in the Iraq desert, said Woidt, whose grandson is in California now but who will return to Iraq for his third tour of duty next spring.

Hansen said the many e-mails and photos she receives from grateful soldiers, airmen and Marines are heartwarming.

Last year, some of the stockings were lined with fabric decorated with the team logos of the National Football League. A soldier from Tennessee in Noble's unit was thrilled to get a Tennessee Titan stocking. "It went to the right man," Hansen said.

Another of her favorite stocking stories was the unit with a bomb-sniffing canine. "The dog got a stocking of his own," she said.

Next year's Christmas stockings are already in the planning stages. Guild member Mary DaFoe has volunteered to sew stockings for Christmas 2010 all year long. Each stocking, padded with quilting, takes a minimum of one hour to cut, sew, decorate and fill. To donate, call Hansen at 343-4624.

Contact Mary Garrigan at 394-8424 or mary.garrigan@rapidcityjournal.com