Taxa shown: Latemeria chalumnae
Time period: Modern

Location: Comoro Islands

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A living fossil, the Coelacanth, was thought to be extinct until Christmas day 1938, when it was discovered in a South African fish market. Museum curator Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer was at the fish market when she came across a specimen that was caught by local fisherman.  It took 14 years to find the population around the Comoro Islands.  These fish make terrible eating.  If they were tasty, people would have known about them sooner.

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Out of destruction comes a beautiful quilt:  As with Devonian Rain, the triangles were originally for a quilt that just wasn't working.  The blocks didn't work with the rest of the quilt. These pieces sat in a box for at least a year.  I had reason to open the box and and I started to put pieces on the design wall; then I liked where this was going.  The coelacanth applique had been on my design wall for probably two years before it found this top.  I want to make a full 2m long coelacanth on a quilt.  So far, this one is the largest I have made measuring about 30 inches.

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Displayed

• Fiber Arts Fiesta Spring Show "Earth, Wind and Fiber" Albuquerque, NM April 7-8 2018

• Northern New Mexico Quilt Guild Show, Santa Fe, NM Oct 18-20, 2018

• Threads of the Spirit 2, St Michael's and All Angles Episcopal Church, March 15-April 22, 2019

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