Pansy Elephant by Dede Ogden

This beautiful Pansy Elephant designed by Dede Ogden began her life in 1981.  She was introduced to me in a workshop with Dede in San Diego.  I don't remember if it was a seminar or an EGA workshop (there was no ANG chapter yet there). I also don't remember if it was painted or line drawn. Definitely not counted.

She was moved many times, in various states of unfinished-ness, finally ending up in Reno.  Sometime in the early 2000's I finished stitching the Elephant but didn't know what I wanted for a background. Back in the drawer she went.

2008 I was again inspired and decided she should have an oriental Rug behind her. I adapted a design from a book Needlepoint Designs from Oriental Rugs by Goethe Sorensen.  I designed the borders.

Ok, so the stitching was done but even though I had used a frame, it was somewhat distorted. Especially the white part of her blanket which is pulled work. That was pretty bumpy. I think I tried to block it out.  No success so she sat around in the drawer again for a long while.  But recently I showed it to an old friend who thought she could fix it and would make it up into a pillow as well. So here you have her!  My nearly 40-year-old elephant!  

Black & Calico Cats FINISHED!

I finally picked up the two Dede Ogden kitties from the finisher!  Aren't they adorable!  they have easel backs and she did a great job!
Black kitty has a red& gold back and Calico kitty has a green & gold back. I love the gold fringy stuff around the edge.



Black & Calico Cats by Dede Ogden

Finally, my two painted canvases by Dede Ogden are finished.  Black Cat and Calico Cat are ready to go to the finisher to be made into Christmas standups.  I hope they'll be done for Christmas this year!  I really like these little girls!
The picture's a little blurry cause I just stuck them on the scanner.  The buttons hold it up just a bit & so we don't get the clearest image.  But once they are finished, I'll get a good photo with my good camera.

Black Cat by Dede Ogden

Black Cat

 I'm working on the 3rd of the cat canvases designed by Dede Ogden.  The first one I did a couple of years ago and gave it as a gift.
The second one, the Calico Cat I finished last year.
Now I have finally started the Black Cat.  She will be a companion piece to the Calico Cat (see below).  They will be finished as stand-ups.
I'm not paying a lot of attention to the colors painted on the canvas, except for the kitty herself.  The hat will be green, the mittens are green and the scarf is red.  I'm not sure about the stocking yet except that the yellow squares will be gold.  I found some cute buttons that will be the items in the stocking, so I will just stitch that plain, probably with the gray.  I will do the background on Black Cat the same as the Calico.  These little pieces stitch up quickly and I hope to get this to the finisher in a week or so.


Calico Cat

Calico Cat Progress #2

As promised, here is a Progress Report on Calico Cat.  Kitty is all done and I'm pleased with her.  I used Watercolors 219 for the main part of the hat, Neon Rays Plus NP22 for the topknot and brim.  I did a sort of half Waffle for the topknot and I like the way that turned out.  Kreinik #12 braid, #061, plus some silver, completed the trim around the brim.  The mittens are #5 Pearl in 498 with the Kreinik 061 for the trim, stitched in a horizontal knitting stitch.  The scarf is in a weaving stitch in the same #5 Pearl.  I do like her much better in all red!

I have decided to have this finished with an easel back, so have to do some background.  I thought there should be a "floor" under kitty so she isn't just floating in midair!  But I think the bricking looks like a wall so I'll be taking that out.  Maybe a pattern with a slant to it would look flatter?  What do you think?

Calico Cat by Dede Ogden

Some of you may remember last summer when I bought the 3 Dede Ogden kitty canvases.  I stitched one for a friend for Christmas (finishing it in February).
Now I am working on the Calico Cat.  I learned a lot from the first one.  For that one I used too many colors & stitches.
So, Calico Cat will be all Tent stitch in Petite Very Velvet. 
The only decorative stitches will be the wreath, hat and mittens.  I have finished the wreath, in kind of a random Leaf stitch, using a dark green Watercolours.  And I just have the white on kitty to finish.
The hat & mittens will be all in shades of red, not the pinks & lavendars as painted.  I haven't figured out the stitches yet!

Here is kitty today:

(Sorry for the blurry picture!)

Note:  This was supposed to have posted last week.  Apparently Blogger had some problems & I was away for the weekend.  So, here it is now!  I have since made some more progress & will post again soon.

Milo - Dede's Cats

Last summer I purchased 3 Dede Ogden kitty canvases.  They were such a deal, I couldn't pass them up - from Canvases Begone.  On the left, you can see canvas #1, the yellow striped kitty.  I decided to stitch him for a friend who has a yellow striped kitty named Milo.  I tried to use as much Stash as possible for Milo.  I think the only thread I bought was the Rainbow Gallery Alpaca 18 and Fuzzy Stuff, all for the fur.  From Stash, I found Kreiniks, Crystal Braid, Neon Rays, Fyre Werks, Silk Lame Braid, Cashmere & Silk n Cream.  I used some Pink Angora for the trim on the hat & it brushed up nicely.

Here is Milo all finished.  I used a variety of stitches.  His hat is Neon Rays and beads in Criss Cross Hungarian with the pink fuzzy trim in random straight stiches.  I used a kind of overlapping gobelin for the furr.  It is quite random and works well.  I have used this method for furry stuff before and like the way it turns out.  Let see, what else did I use? 

The package is a Framed Mosaic.  There's a few other patterns, but I forget what they are.
This is one of the very few painted canvases I have done in many years.  I think I can get better!

I decided to have Milo finished as a Stand Up, so I worked some background around him.  I think I should have used a lighter color, or a more contrasting one.  The background color is too close to his fur color & so he doesn't show up quite as much as I'd like.  I'll remember that for the next one!  Milo has now been delivered to his Forever Home and I have heard that one of the "real" Milo's brothers thinks this is his toy!  Here is Milo all done & standing up: