Second Rug- done!

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...

January, 2013

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.

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!

The studio...

In the bleak midwinter...

OK, time to stop for now. 

Next month:

Feb 13, 2013

Feb 23, 2013

And then April: (what happened in March? I don't even remember March!)

April 11, 2013

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.

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!

Fur real??

Oh well! Here's the real deal!

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?