I have been much taken by the sentiments expressed by my fellow Cloth in Common quilters who have mused about the current prompt of The Water Flow.  Each has shown the thought process that reveals the connection to the world around them, their understanding of the importance of water to life on Earth and their appreciation and interpretation of the beauty this world gives us.  Thank you, Mickey for this prompt.

My first quilt for CIC was Floodlines, for the prompt, Lines.  This quilt considered the different impressions of water during the flood we experienced in 2022.

The pictures above are from 2022 and show an old shed that has been swamped by the rising river and the houseboat marina in our local town which was inundated as the river spread across the floodplain.

But what happens when the river flows are reduced by drought, or the rains in the catchment don’t fall when expected?  One of the possible consequences, if the flow is just right and the temperature is in a suitable range, is the development of algal blooms.  As I write, there is a Blue-green algae bloom moving slowly down the river to the sea.  It flowed quietly past our place last week.  Blue-green algae produces cyanotoxins which can be poisonous to humans, wildlife and stock, so are to be avoided – no swimming, drinking or bathing directly in the river while they are around.

But the interesting thing is that the river can produce algae unexpectedly and give no clue as to where it came from and why it is there.  A couple of years ago we were on the river in a houseboat and, on waking one morning, I found we were surrounded by an unusual white algal form in the river.  It floated gently and delicately on the surface and covered several hundred square metres. It was stringy and seemed gelatinous and there were rod-like sections that grouped and clumped then thinned and crept web-like to the next clump. I’ve never been able to identify what it was, but I took photos as it had a fascinating form and I hope that one day I can integrate it into a project. Maybe this is the right project?