At dusk in the national parks, visitors carry their camp chairs down to the little amphitheater, the fire gets going, and a ranger in a flat hat tells everyone who lives nearby. Quilters always sit in the front row, usually with a hand project in their laps. Stitchin' Through the Parks is that evening program in design form, a tour of the parks and the animals who call them home, each one drawn with a quilter's eye for detail. Settle in. The ranger is about to begin.
Tonight's feature: Yellowstone, four ways
The ranger starts with the big one. Stitchin' in Yellowstone comes as a set of patches that look embroidered by hand: steaming hot spring terraces stepped in turquoise and cream, a bison grazing below the golden canyon falls, Old Faithful sending up a tall white plume, and an elk standing at the edge of a winding blue river with the mountains behind him. For those who prefer a quieter look, a pencil-soft bison stands under the Yellowstone name with the words Stitching in the Wild.
Who you might meet on the trail
Next come the sketchbook badges, each one a park name arched over its resident, the year it was founded and a little stitching motto. A falcon keeps watch over Pinnacles, Stitching Along Rocky Spires. A small fox trots across Channel Islands, Stitching Beyond the Mainland, and another sits politely at Acadia by the sea breeze. A bighorn ram braces on the rim at Black Canyon, a loon floats at Voyageurs between the waters, and a heron wades at Indiana Dunes by the lakeshore. A mountain goat climbs Mount Rainier where the wildflowers bloom, an elk bugles along the Blue Ridge in the Great Smoky Mountains, and a hawk circles at Hawaii Volcanoes, where the earth breathes. Katmai and Big Bend each send a bear, and a deer steps carefully among the hoodoos at Bryce Canyon.
A word about the desert and the deep
Before the fire burns down, the ranger saves two wonders for last. White Sands glows with rippled white dunes, a spiky yucca and a sky gone pink and gold at sunset. And one patch takes us underground, into a cave hung with glittering stalactites and a still, dark pool, the coolest spot in any park on a hot afternoon.
For the quilter who never skips the evening program
These are for the friend who plans vacations around park visits, the retiree slowly working her way through every park in the country, and the camper who hand-quilts by lantern light after the dishes are done. Let her choose the park that holds her favorite memory, or the one that is next on her list. The ranger talk always ends the same way: douse the fire, pack out what you packed in, and keep a toasted marshmallow well away from the binding.
Written by Jenny. Thanks for reading.
