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RHGNL Gallery A ‘Child’ Returns to Woody Point by Jane Jesseau In 2003, I was requested by a friend to share my newly-acquired interest in rug hooking to introduce the basics of the craft to a group of curious people in Woody Point, located in beautiful Gros Morne National Park. Her request sent me looking for an appropriate design. I came across "Well Worth The Trouble", a novice rug-hooking project designed by Deanne Fitzpatrick, in a 2002 issue of "Saltscapes" magazine. The project, portraying a traditional ‘Atlantic’ house, was fitting as it reminded me of the houses of Woody Point that I had first seen as a child. And so, I decided to borrow Deanne’s design for this occasion. In August 2003, thirteen eager participants gathered in the beautifully restored Woody Point Heritage Theatre, and we began hooking our first project - a chair pad. Since that day in 2003 some of our group have been happy enough to complete that project. Others have blossomed forth, creating their own designs and selling some of their mats. For me, the opportunity to share the old tradition of rug hooking sparked an interest in pursuing my own goal, of using the bags of recycled materials I had been accumulating for too long! My objective was to complete six chair pads for the old wooden chairs in our summer home. As a young girl arriving with my family in Woody Point after the long dusty drive from Corner Brook, it was a huge relief to get out of our car. Gathering shells and starfish on the beach in front of the Prebble House near the Ferry Dock, has always been a pleasant memory for me. In those days our destination was Norris Point, a short ferry ride away, but I remember Woody Point as the place with the beautiful houses. Almost half a century later, those structures were to become the focus of my chair pads. I progressed from the ‘Atlantic’ house (very similar to the Roberts’ house), to the Roberts’ Fishing Store, along Water Street, to the Prebble House, down on the Point to the Old Loft Restaurant, to Aunt Jane’s (no relation) B&B, and around the back road to the Heritage Theatre. Working from digital photographs, I drew the designs on graph paper. I kept my design and hooking style simple, and I used T-shirt fabric for the pads. The end result is primitive, which I like. Since these little mats would grace unmatched chairs in our very old saltbox house (built around 1904), I didn’t worry about shading or perspective. The only material that required dyeing was a favourite old turquoise turtleneck, which was a tad too bright for the present color of the Heritage Theatre. So with my very limited knowledge of dyeing, I decided to use a good strong pot of tea to tone the brightness - and it worked better than I had hoped! So... three summers after that first "little mat" got started, I completed the last one in this set - my own version of an ‘Atlantic’ house, in this case, Roberts’ House in Woody Point. The Roberts family had donated their old house, situated directly across from their Store (fishing room), to the Town of Woody Point. Under the town’s Heritage Restoration project that lovely home was restored and officially opened on August 20th, 2006 - three years later, almost to the day that we started hooking the chair-pad project. The house is presently used as an Information Center and Museum. I have really had fun hooking the structures of Woody Point and I’d encourage others to enjoy a project like this, based on buildings in your own communities - it’s been well worth the time! Note: These little mats have been easy to work on during our weekly ‘hook-ins’. Between these "little works", I was able to complete a couple of larger projects at home on my floor frame, which isn’t as portable. Happy Hooking!
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