One More Coral Reef Quilt

My solo quilt exhibition in Kyabram begins soon and I felt that I needed one more coral reef quilt for the exhibition. I am expecting that this will be the last one in this style. I might explore the coral reef theme a bit more but my next work will not be so pictorial. It's been a fun 5 years though.

I only decided to do one more coral reef quilt about 3 months ago and I also had the Wonder of Eyes quilt to make so I have had a very busy start to 2020. I always say that I won't put myself under so much pressure again but then I think that I can do it one more time!!

I already had some coral and fish made so I wasn't starting completely from scratch. You can see from the photo below, the markings that I make with a Fabrico marker really help to make the fish look more lifelike.

I took a photo of lots of them.

I ended up putting some gold paint on them as well, you can probably see that in the photo below.

I did some blue fish and added some yellow marker to improve them.

I machine quilted some fish onto the quilt and added some colour with another Fabrico marker.

I never regret buying those fabric markers.

I made some coral by machine as I knew that I didn't have time to do all the hand embroidery that I usually do. I machine stitched them on wash-away solvy and then put some felt behind them and added some colonial knots by hand. I like the effect.

Coral by machine

I also made some coral by machine by couching some circles onto purple felt; I didn't think I would use them as they looked too plain, but I was inspired to add some beads and they looked so much better. It's amazing what can pop into your brain when you are under time pressure.

Couched coral

The Kyabram Town Hall Gallery exhibition space is very large, that's why I thought I needed another quilt. This quilt is so new that I haven't even taken a photo of it yet but I have this week to put a facing and rod pocket on it before I hang the exhibition on Saturday.

My husband named this quilt, I couldn't call it another coral reef quilt, could I? It's called Coral Symphony; I loved the name as soon as he said it. A fitting end to my series.

My coral reef, crazy quilts, pictorial and applique quilts will all be on display in March.

I am planning to be at the exhibition on Monday 2nd and Tuesday 3rd of March, Monday 9th March, Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 18th March and Friday 27th March and Monday 30th. Hope to see some of you there!

Bye for now,
Linda