Beth's Block

Wow! Here it is, the middle of March already. The time is just speeding away!

I have completed my work on Beth's block for the UTS1 (Under the Sea 1) Round Robin.
Beth orientated her block with the rocks at the top rather than at the bottom, so I visualized it as a rock shelf or outcrop, like the type I have seen many times when scuba diving, and chose to do the 4 patches on the top right. I started by laying down the seam treatments in stranded cotton floss and seed beads, in colours complimentary to the patches.

Beth said she envisioned "the light shining down into the water", so I ran with that idea and couched metallic gold 'rays' down the green patch, to represent that.

 

On the 'rock' patches, red branching coral was worked in seed beads, and a small kelp was done in long needle woven bars with No.8 purl, and carefully tacked down in a few places to give it the wonderful 'floating in the water' look. Next I made a needlelace Sea Lettuce type seaweed, in a variegated green No.8 purl, and attached it with a gold pearl in the centre.

Then came the orange sea anemones. These were done in a variegated orange No.8 purl. I started by making 3 rolled couronne, attached them with small tacking stitches, and put a single colonial knot in the centre. Each couronne was then surrounded by a circle of long drizzle stitches for the tentacles.
The final work on the 'rocks' is a collection of different types of small non-branching corals and polyps that typically cluster on reef rocks, done in sequins, seed beads, bugle beads, and pearls, interspersed with small green seaweed done in solid green No.8 purl.

Under the rocks is a small school of silver fish, like those that often hang around under rock shelves, done in silver metallic thread. 

I hope Beth likes it.