Quilting blocks equate to sewing straight lines, but what fun straight lines can be.
I discovered Kohatu Patterns by Rachel Julia and Quiet Play Designs by Kristy Lea through Instagram. Each designer offered a sunflower pattern whose purchase benefitted UNICEF Ukraine. Gabriele of Fabrilish is collecting quilt blocks to mail to fabric artist Claudia Pfeil who will turn the blocks into quilts to give to Ukrainian refugees fleeing Russian aggression.
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| Kohatu Sunflower pattern for Ukraine |
A Little Bit Taller Tree as it was designed--for a Christmas pattern. Part of Mom's Christmas decorations.
A Little Bit Taller Tree pattern done in a Fall pattern for Mom to decorate her house.
Work on the National Park Service quilt continues, with the Fiona Sandwich patterns by Rachael Lee.
March 2022 finishes
I have never seen these cacti in person, but I have helped in a study of the little Pygmy Owl that makes its home in these cacti. Our data study was done at dusk and nighttime, so I depicted my block to represent the study.
In memory of my Dad who frequently visited White Sands. I hope to see this park in-person in summer 2022.
When I was in Denali coming in from a tour, a fox trotted along side the tour bus for a bit with its fresh kill in its mouth. Then, in 2005, after Mom and I had left the Imperial War Museum, across the street, someone was nursing a fox back to health in their back garden. We stood at the fence and watched the fox for quite some time. That fox was quite majestic.
December 2021 finishes, Klondike Sewing Camp
Orienteering is a key aspect to successfully enjoying the outdoors. Whether we are kayaking, hiking, or completing an orienteering course, we have a compass with us. I first learned about orienteering in Girl Scouts and still have my Girl Scout compass. I bought some floche from my needlepoint store and will embroider the cardinal directions on my compass face.
This tent kept me warm, comfortable, dry in many parks in many states, and in all seasons. I pitched this tent in my parents’ backyard and spent nights with Fab #4 (our nieces and nephews) when she was two and three years old, so it was her first tent. I cannot remember where I purchased this tent, but I bought it in college, so it lasted 18 years. It’s demise came in 2003, site 2 in Cottonwood Campground at Theodore Roosevelt NP where a buffalo wet on my tent while I was out hiking. Other campers had notified the rangers what had happened, and though there was only the wretched smell, no leaks!, the rangers feared for my safety. I had to get rid of my tent, but they helped me find a comparable one in Medora (it was blue and Fab #5’s first tent), and even helped me pitch my new tent. In the spring block, I depicted the “marking” by my non-matching tent flaps.
In the summer of 2009, Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS and Big Hole National Battlefield partnered on a Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Project, and I was assigned to Big Hole NB for three days.
Big Hole NB tells the story of the Nez Perce Indians’ two-day battle with US Army in the Bitterroot Valley on August 9 & 10, 1877. This battle was a part of the Nez Perce Flight of 1877. Not long after this battle and failing to reach Canada, Chief Joseph gave his infamous “...From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever” speech.
This park and the Bitterroot Valley are an amazing area of science, primary historical artifacts, and solitude. The North Fork of the Big Hole River runs through the park, which we fished, but I don’t know if that’s still possible as several aspects have changed. Depicting a treacherous era of US History, it is another underrated park, but one that is worth a visit.
From the East Texas Piney Woods to the deserts and mountains of West Texas, evidence of the Spanish Colonial Era exists throughout the state. The San Antonio Missions NHP highlights four of the 26 missions built in Texas; it does not include Mission San Antonio de Valero, aka the Alamo, the first mission built on the San Antonio River. The missions preserved in this park are: Mission San Francisco de la Espada, Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion de Acuna (featured in our block), Mission San Jose de los Nazonis, and Mission San Juan Capistrano.
I love the missions, whether they are national or state parks, because they are rich sources of primary documents and the history of the area. The Catholic friars kept excellent records throughout the Spanish and French explorations and colonizations. One of my favorite archival and historical Mission stories covers a Colombian mission and appeared in 2017 on 60 Minutes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWMzfKeUeYg, and may help scientists today unlock the mysteries of dementia and Alzheimer's .
The San Antonio Missions portray not only the Catholic colonization but the descendants of indigenous peoples, historical artifacts, 300 year old food recipes, customs, and architecture. Truly, they are a time machine to the past.
Cody and I stayed at Rapids Camp Lodge on the western edge of Naknek Lake in Alaska’s Bristol Bay area in late July/early August 2014. One day, we decided we would do the Brooks River “death march,” chasing giant Rainbows in Katmai National Park & Preserve.
We flew in a Beaver de Haviland float plane to Lake Brooks Seaplane Base and bushwhacked our way along Fishermans Trail to Brooks River. I caught my first Sockeye Salmon not long after we made it to the river. We began fishing our way upstream, west. Alaska was in a drought that year, so the water levels were low. There is a place not far upstream from the mouth, where the river makes a 90 degree turn, and there we lunched. We came upon two filmmakers wanting to tell the story of fishing, hoping to have an impact in helping ban the Pebble Mine Project, so they tagged along with us. They were asking us all kinds of questions and filming our answers. Since I was finished eating and am obssesed with fish, I went to view the absolute stockpile of Sockeyes struggling to make that 90 degree turn to move upstream. They wanted me to come back and talk more, but the Lord saw that those fish had my attention. Not more than three minutes had passed from me leaving my spot, when a Grizzly bear came bolting out of the tall grasses and into the river and across. Had I been sitting there, the Grizzly would have plowed straight into me causing some serious injuries.
We headed on upriver, coming to the infamous Brooks Falls, which we bypassed over land on the NNE (away from platform viewing stand). We got back in the water upstream of the Falls, where there is an island. Grizzlies were all over the island feeding on and fighting over the Sockeye. Our guide, a tall 6’4” fellow whose gait was long compared to my 5’2” stride, turned to us and said we are walking up the middle of the island, single-file in between all those bears, because it was safe. I observed the bears from about 30 feet away, and sure enough, they were so hyper-focused on the fish, they couldn’t care less about what was behind them, and off we went.
Bears have a very strong musk odor, that if one is not charging like our first encounter, you can smell a Grizzly long before you see it. The musk smell was heavy and caused our eyes to tear. This island was quite rocky, and wading boots aren’t well-suited to a woman’s narrow foot. I was struggling a bit to keep up, when I slipped. Naturally, I reached out, and a Grizzly broke my fall. I froze; meanwhile, all those photographers on shore taking photos of the bears went nuts with their cameras; shutters began clicking in triple time. That bear never reacted to me and pounced on a fish instead. We had been told adamantly to NOT run, but walk, so I resumed at a quicker pace, and we made it through the island. Meanwhile the reporter and his cameraman had broken off and hiked a bluff to film Cody casting 90 feet to a 32” rainbow. He hooked it, and was playing it well, when a Grizzly keyed in on the Rainbow. At that time of year, Sockeyes are a dime a dozen; Rainbow Trout, not so much, and 30”+, even more rare. So, Cody pointed his fly rod straight at the fish and broke her off. The guide stood between the fish resting behind a rock and the shore where the Grizzly was eyeing us all. The Rainbow survived, because the bear ate a Sockeye instead, and the cameraman captured it all.
The fishing became very difficult the farther upstream we went due to the drought, but at the end of the day, we encountered a juvenile male playing by himself in a pool and eating his fill of fish. The shocking thing about this male was his previous injury from a fight. One entire shoulder had been stripped bare of fur. The fight was not recent, as the bear’s skin was not bleeding, had no sores, and his frolicking and weight-bearing lunges seemed to indicate he wasn’t in pain or suffering. Our guide did say he was probably by himself having been ostracized for probably losing the fight. He didn’t have to share his fish, though. For me, it took three days for the bear odor to leave my hand.
And that is why the fish block is my Bear Hunt.
Long before my brother and I were born, my parents lived in Coronado, CA, so when my brother was transferred to San Leandro, CA in 1994, my Mom and I went to visit for several weeks during the summer. We flew and arrived just 30 minutes after our time zone departure, so my brother drove us to the Golden Gate Bridge, my first national park. It was a clear, bluebird sky day; a little chilly in June, but the sightlines were unbelievable, and that primer coat orange against the sky—just magnificent. We visited Fort Point and took our photos; then, we headed to Muir Woods. I found the spot where the first UN met and used the video and photos I shot in my world history classroom. The students were always in awe of how many people it took to encircle a tree. When driving out of the area, we were at the high elevation point, and I wanted to snap a sunset photo, so my brother whipped into the gravel pullout. Mom hollered thinking we were headed over the cliff, because brother did get a tad too close to the edge. Now, she tells folks that Muir Woods was where her children tried to kill her. We visited Alcatraz the next day—oh! those flat bars, view, and the cold of the rec yard; also, a bird pooped on Mom’s head right before we went in to the fort area.
In the summer of 2009, I worked at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site, the only park dedicated solely to ranching in the NPS detailing the Open Range Era. Located in Deer Lodge, Montana near the headwaters of the Clark Fork River, the historic ranching, buildings, home, and land, which belonged to only two families before being sold to the NPS in 1972 by the grandson of Conrad Kohrs, remains a relatively little-known site. The living history demonstrations offer visitors a chance to see ranching and farming practices in the 1800s with wagon tours on the ranch, horse-drawn sicklemowers, buckrakes, a functioning beaverslide hay stacker, an operating blacksmith, many other horse-drawn vehicles and automobiles throughout the ranch's history, and original buildings.
In the early 2000s, I taught middle school history in a small school district (there were only five middle school teachers), and we decided to team teach the Island of the Blue Dolphins. In my 30-year career, the lesson of the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island is still one of my favorites and my former students' favorites. The NPS helped create an on-line learning resource for Island of the Blue Dolphins: https://www.nps.gov/sub.../islandofthebluedolphins/index.htm
I came really close to getting to visit the Channel Islands NP this November, because I was walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day. We could pick to walk the only normal walk in San Diego, or walk the modified event (but not miles) the 3-Day Nation at home. In July, our RV suffered a shattered window, and we're still awaiting its replacement. Due to that, we chose not to go to San Diego. OH! so close; so close.
November 2021 finishes, Klondike Sewing Camp
In the summers of 2007 and 2008, I worked at Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site in Brownsville, TX; now it is a National Historic Park, as the battle lands of Resaca de la Palma have been added to the park. Dedicated to the only two battles of the US-Mexican War fought on US soil, this is a historically rich place about a significant era that is often overlooked. When I worked there, new additions delineating Mexican forces areas were going to be constructed, so archaeological surveys needed to be conducted. We found a cannon ball and other items, but finding the cannon ball was my favorite. There were many living history events, and I got to fire the cannon, thus my white plume and smoke-filled sky.
The book, “The Emerald Mile” by Kevin Fedarko, is about the epic 1983 flood along the Colorado River, the Glen Canyon Dam, and setting the all-time record for the fastest boat ever to travel the length of the Colorado River from Lee’s Ferry at the head of the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead. It is a wonderful story.
My quilt canoe is green, not for the title, but because when I was in third grade, my parents bought me a green Mohawk canoe, which I still have and use. We did an annual Father/Daughter Outing in Girl Scouts. Several of the Dads felt once-a-year was not enough, so we did weekend canoe/camping trips about three times a year. I have canoed a part of every river in Texas but the Canadian and Devils Rivers in that canoe.
I have never seen the Wild Horses of Assateague Island National Seashore, but it is a place I want to visit. I studied the photos of the horses on the NPS website to create my color scheme, and this fellow is splashing along the beach.
The only wolf I have ever seen in person was from afar on a Summer 1999 trip to Yellowstone National Park. I was hiking NE on Slough Creek Trail headed to fly fish an oxbow lake. I heard a wolf howl and was able to spot it through my binoculars. The balance and health this species adds to the park is outstanding; I’m glad they were reintroduced. This was almost my Literature Block submission in honor of the book Howl: A Book about Wolves, thanks Read Right!, but I chose to make it one of the 10 and made a different literature block.
My 2003 return trip home from Alaska found me at Theodore Roosevelt NP in Medora, ND. I secured the last site, spot 2, at Cottonwood Campground, pitched my tent and set-up camp at sunrise, and they left to go hiking in the Badlands. I returned late afternoon to a wretched smell; a buffalo had marked its territory on my tent, which did not leak, thankfully! Concerned for my safety, the rangers took my tent, helped me obtain a new one in Medora, and assisted me in pitching it. As ornery as buffaloes are, I love them, including this challenging one.
This sea turtle represents a Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle, and the summer of 2008 when I had the opportunity to help at Padre Island National Seashore with the hatchlings’ release. Still memorable 13 years later.
I had my first encounter with a Raven in 1995 at Golden Gate NRA (and I know he followed my Mom, Brother, and me to Muir Woods). They are a very smart bird species. Designed the pattern so that he looks like Poe’s Raven perched above the door.
This is another reminder of my 2003 Alaska trip. I tent camped in Denali for 14 days. Checking in at the Visitors Center, they had a mosquito encased in that clear, polyresin stuff and used as a paperweight display. There was also a tape measure. That mosquito was not quite six inches long, not mm, but inches! Later, I took one of the backcountry tours and we ran across Moose and Elk, who looked just haggard—thin, scrawny, poor coats, panting tongues. The ranger informed us that for the three weeks that mosquitoes are really active, the herds had to be on the move constantly, because a swarm of mosquitoes could suck a moose or an elk dry!
Dinosaur footprints evoke memories of Dinosaur Valley State Park with Casting for Recovery; Cody taking me to Big Bend NP, and on the way we stopped at a roadside park west of McCamey to see dinosaur footprints, and fishing Amistad NRA near Panther Cave and the old Southern Pacific RR tunnel, which we boated.
I have never seen a Loon in person, but I love the bird cams with Loons, and that call—oh my!
Big Horn Sheep remind me of West Texas, especially Amistad NRA. Cody and I are always amazed as we fish Lake Amistad and see these animals scaling up and down the cliffs with the tiniest of footholds.
Cody and I fished, snorkled/scuba diving in the Everglades NP in 2008, and seeing these gentle giants was interesting and fun. When Fabs #4 and #5 were 12 and 9, they swam with the dolphins and manatees. Fab #5 said the manatees tried to bite his fingers thinking they were the celeray that visitors fed the manatees. First foray with directional fabrics.
We visited Hawaii in the summer of 2015, though we did not get to go to the Hawaii Volcanes and Haleakala, we made plans to come back in the future. A bucket list item is to watch the sunrise from atop the Haleakala peak.
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