Current Work - Lois Wilby Hooper - Moores Mills, New Brunswick

Iron in the Blood (Ghost Train) is a tribute to the railroads that held Canada together as a nation, and the many men who built and maintained them. The background is rust dyed and discharge dyed. Free motion quilted, ink and pencil drawing, hand embroidery. The invoice copy from the Intercolonial Railway, which ran from Montreal through the Maritimes prior to 1921, shows "1 sewing machine" sent from Saint John to Sussex in 1885. The layout of a steam engine yard with turntable (to turn the engines around) is stitched in the upper left. Because the telegraph was essential to railways, the title, date and signature are embroidered in Morse code.

The engine is CPR no. 29, one of the oldest steam engines in Canada, which ran on the Minto-Chipman line in NB for many years. It then went to the Salem and Hillsborough Railway museum  and now stands in front of the CPR headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The hanging won Best in Show at the Marco Polo Guild show in Saint John, NB in 2013.