2021 Rotation #3 Start

 Wow, my rotation got sort of bollixed up the last month or so.   When the crafting slump hit in mid May, I stopped stitching for the most part and just messed around with the Plaza Sewing Bag trying to figure out where things left off and putting in the over one names / dates that weren't already done.  Then it was Blackbird weekend. So, Rotation #3 for the year is starting off to a rather rocky beginning.  But it's time to get back into the groove.

First up is the new 'not counted thread' UFO.  The Unicorn Pillow.   Traditional needlepoint and crewel on canvas.  Here's where I'm starting:

This project is from about 1981.  My boyfriend (later husband)'s mother gave me the kit for either my birthday or Christmas the first year we were dating.  I collected unicorns as a teen, and Walt must have told her about my collection, which I did display in my house at the time.  My mother in law was not a needleworker, but she always loved to see what I was working on.

While I've done a fair bit of needlepoint over the years, I have been very spoiled.  I worked on three different 'group' projects with large budgets and very high quality hand painted canvases.  This was not a high quality kit, being a printed canvas instead of one of the hand painted canvases that I prefer.  My second preference is for a counted thread style chart (like the birds on the tissue box cover a few years back).  I do like the design though.

The problem with printed canvas is that unlike a hand painted canvas, there's no guarantee that each thread intersection is a single, distinct and clear color.  They get 'off registration' in the printing process, the print is also not accurately pixelated, so the stitcher is somewhat left guessing what threads to put where.

The other issue is that the stitch guide for this project is very hard to read.  Instead of being printed to a grid, it's a hand drawn picture, with the colors very sketchily indicated.  Luckily, the cover photo stayed with the project in storage and I'm actually using that as much (or more) than the stitch guide!

I have got the canvas edge binding repaired where it had come loose and have it re-mounted on a fixed frame.  First off is to puzzle out the nose......