Show & Tell - January 2008

A little fish on the Web_

For the launching of our Web site, we chose an aquatic theme inspired by the Lac St-Louis -which is a door step of our guild house-, the Internet navigation and the concept of being "hooked".

Judith Dallegret. Kiss the Cod, Goodbye.

Kiss the Cod, Goodbye
Designed and Hooked by Judith Dallegret

The story of my Cod Fish rug

This rug is hooked in very wide strips of number 9 and 10 (1/2”) wool, all hand dyed by myself. I like a primitive textured antique look for my own work. The bright colours will disappear over time, but it won’t matter, as that is the life of a hooked mat. The rainbow design was used in the old days for quilt and rugs.

Why a Cod Fish? Having strong roots to Nova Scotia and being a great, great granddaughter of sailing captains who ventured around the world on the tall seas, I have always had a love and respect of the sea and all that lives in the oceans. My most notorious great, great, great-grandfather, was Capt. David Morehouse who found the very famous mysterious ghost ship the “Marie Celeste” sailing off the coast of Africa.

I once read in Rug Hooking Magazine that a rug hooker from Maine had a hooked a rug of this ship for her summer home in NS and that it was stolen. I have always wondered if it was ever found and how nice it was to honour this majestic sailing vessel in a rug. I should have done so myself but I chose the Cod fish instead! Each summer, when I return down home to Sandy Cove on Digby Neck, NS., it seems that the supply of fish, although plentiful in the stores of Montreal, is harder and harder to get in Nova Scotia. In the market of Toulouse, France, one day I saw piles and piles of fish form all over the world. All types of fish have cards to say what country these fish were from, but not the Cod Fish which is Canadian and is disappearing faster than any fish alive. The supplies are running out, not just in Newfoundland, but all over the world. Suddenly I felt sad. If we can’t save the Cod, how can we save ourselves? So I hooked a rug to honour the mighty Cod Fish, title “Kiss the Cod, Goodbye”. It rests in front of my fireplace in Nova Scotia.

Ailish O'Keeffe. Smoked Salmon

Smoked Salmon
By Ailish O’Keeffe

I saw a picture of a fish smoking a pipe, and I thought this idea could be great for a rug. I discussed the idea with Judith Dallegret who gave me a drawing of a fish that I could use as a basis for a rug called “Smoked Salmon”.
I used monk’s cloth to work on, and a number 6 cut wool. The colors include a deep salmon, purple and yellow mixed with spot-dyed wool to make an interesting combination. The piece is 37” x 20”. It is to be a wall hanging.

Sally Perodeau. Aquarium (A Pearl McGowan Pattern)

Aquarium
Designed by Pearl McGowan and hooked by Sally Perodeau

The aquarium is a very old pattern which challenged my imagination. I fell in love with this McGowan’s design, because it is such a different rug hooking pattern!
The design is hooked with number 3 cut with material gleaned from my fellow hookers. The greens which I took from a monochromatic class filled in well for the bull rushes. For the turtles, I used tapestry wool. The sand is from some variegated knitting wool.

I was in a hurry to get started and I did not transfer the pattern to good linen or rug warp, after 30 years I should have know better!! Alas I paid for my impatience as the burlap developed holes and consequently I had to patch a few times. So, please, learn from my experience and never hook on old burlap!

Because of the weakness of the burlap the only option I had was to create a wall hanging. I pressed it myself as it was too frail to be stretched and put on a frame by a professional, as long as it hangs on the wall it should last many years in my grandson’s room. I really like pictorials and I have, after all, a very enjoyable pictorial rug that I really love.
Many thanks to Lois Morris for her help with this rug. She has helped many people over the years.

Lois J. Morris. Misty Morning Bar Harbour, Maine

Misty Morning Bar Harbor, Maine
By Lois J. Morris

A Gannet

There is nothing nicer that being by the ocean and experiencing the peace and quiet of a very early morning before anyone else has risen. We were camping in Bar Harbor, Maine, and I was up before everyone in a misty morning and took my coffee and went sat by the shoreline. There was an island off shore that was hilly and you could see the top of it through the early morning mist. Closer to me on a pile of rocks was a large shore bird. I did a quick sketch of the bird and filed it away in my mind intending to perhaps paint this picture when I got back home. But instead I decided to hook it. I went to my dye pot, and did some dyeing for the sky. I found some left over pieces of spot dye for my water, and various and sundry pieces of left over strips from other projects that I used for my rocks. Then I dirtied up some white for my bird along with a few more leftovers I found and the results are what you see.