It was a close race to the finish, but I managed to finish AND fix the mistakes on the seat rug for Dad- for Dad's day. It was to be a seat cushion for his desk chair, with his beloved Jess the Border Collie on it.
I started this a looooonnnnggg time ago.
Beginnings...
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| January, 2013 |
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| So where's the Border Collie? |
So that's as far as I went before actually drawing in the dog. That black bit got ripped out...
I was most nervous about trying to draw a dog free hand. And not any dog, but one that looked like a Border Collie. And not any Border Collie, but one that looked like my Dad's Border Collie, Jess. I worked at the Church in Grindstone City, far away from the internet or any pictures I have. And my memory certainly does not function as a photo album! So I sketched a few doggies on a scrap paper, and then I swallowed hard, grabbed a sharpie, and went for it.
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| Dog with attitude! |
Then for the filling in...one weekend at a time. Winter had set in, but luckily we had Geothermal heat and it was a pretty cozy and inspiring place to work!
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| The studio... |
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| In the bleak midwinter... |
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| OK, time to stop for now. |
Next month:
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| Feb 13, 2013 |
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| Feb 23, 2013 |
And then April: (what happened in March? I don't even remember March!)
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| April 11, 2013 |
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| How will I do those pretty "feathers" on the legs and belly? |
Fast forward to May-June. It's all a blur, but somehow I managed to finish it up. With two major flubs. Can you see them? That's supposed to be a barn door behind Jess's rump. What?
So with the experience of a knitter used to ripping out her work, and the inspiration of having to drive to Rochester, NY in a few hours, I pulled out the red and replaced with white, and then bound the edge. Here he is on the chair.
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| Ruff Ruff! I'm a farm dog! |
Except...even though I carefully measured the chair seat 6 months ago, and carefully made a template to fit...when I got back to the studio, I assumed that the curved edge was the open edge. Which it clearly is not. So doggie is upside down. Argh!
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| Fur real?? |
Oh well! Here's the real deal!
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| Jess in action! |
He's cuter in person, but at least I got the colors right! (Can't go wrong with black and white!!)
What do you think?
