#ladyandtheunicornproject

[jolaunay]

A Farewell to Unicorns...

If you have been following me long enough, you probably know that about a year ago I have started a crazy cross-stitch project, see post here . I have posted updates here n there throughout 2023 with the tag #ladyandtheunicornproject . As every crafter & artist would know, when you embark on such a journey, it keeps lingering in the back of your mind every damn day that you don't work on it. I didn't touch it in months, then I finally found the energy to get back to it. This is the progress I made in a year, a little shy of 1.5 pages out of a 60-page pattern:

It just felt hopeless, the amount of confetti in this pattern is insane. And most of the time, it didn't even look like it made much difference. Then it kinda dawned on me; is this pattern the product of a pattern mill?

What it is a "pattern mill" you might ask... Some cross-stitch pattern shops on etsy simply use photos of artwork and convert them to cross-stitch patterns using free websites. They don't credit the artist, they don't pay a dime for the software, yet they profit from their work. The end result usually does not translate well to cross-stitch; lots of confetti, the project is unmanageable, kills the joy of crafting and when you're finished, it looks like a pixelated photo taken with an early 2000s phone camera.

After further research, I was convinced that my pattern is also from a pattern mill - considering the amount of money I spent on this project, it felt like a punch in the gut. My family will never have generational wealth & afford a vacation home on Rhode Island coast because of this fucking project! But hey, c'est la vie! You live and you learn... See related posts here & here

Sometimes, you just gotta know when to say "enough of this bullshit", cut your losses and walk away from a situation. For that reason, there's no point in working on this project anymore and making it my "Sagrada de Familia". So, I came up with an idea to finish it in an alternative way:

"Unfinished paintings are more admired than the finished because the artist's actual thoughts are left visible." This is a quote from Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, some important guy who lived during the Ancient Roman times. I think it is a fitting quote because it represents my vision of saying "fuck this" and not having the fallacy of the sunk costs. Finished it, framed it and now displaying it in my library room in front of another tapestry from the Unicorn series.

It gives me closure rather than disappointment for a project that I started with such high hopes & excitement. If I just put it in a bag and threw it to the bottom of a closet, it'd make me feel guilty. But this still makes me feel accomplished, because it honors the hours of effort I put into it. It turned into a nice little conversation piece with a story. I still love cross-stitching and will work on better patterns in the future. There's already enough to dread about in life. Unfortunate experiences shouldn't take the joy out of pleasant activities!

[jolaunay]

[jolaunay]

Oh god... what have I done, tf have I just done!!! I must be bat shit balls-to-the-walls level insane to attempt smth like this!!!

I just purchased the cross-stitch pdf pattern for the tapestry seen above, "à mon seul désir" and no, don't you dare ask me how many different colors of floss I need. At this point, I'm too scared to look.... 🙄

For those of you who has never worked with a counted cross-stitch pattern... (well, neither have I). The pattern will pretty much look like this, a different symbol for each color. Hahahaahahahhh!!! Easy-peasy, right??? 🤪

The finished dimensions you asked? Well, here you go "gulp" 😐

That is 30.39x24.92 inches!!! On a freakin' 22 count cross-stitch linen!!😱

Here's a photo for reference:

Well, it should be ready to download in an hour or so... Tomorrow my crazy ass will be driving to the craft store to start building my embroidery floss stash & buy other necessary supplies. Will keep you posted about the progress!

[jolaunay]

Wooohhhoooo!!! Panel 1 is finished!!!

Finally done! Took me about 2 months, some trial&error, but hey, it's here now! 1 down, 59 more to go... Here's a gif of my progress photos:

The adventure begins for panel 2:

It's a great day for cross-stitching, enjoying the view from my work station.

Follow the hashtags #lady and the unicorn project & #ladyandtheunicornproject if you want to get updates from this insane project of 295,200 stitches. Ciao for now babes!!!

[jolaunay]

Getting there, getting there!!! Just wanted to make a lil progress gif for panel 2. It has an insane amount of confetti and I'm trying so hard not to cut any corners. At this pace, I wonder how many years it will take me to finish this insanity... But hey, it's all about the journey, not the destination, right?

[jolaunay]

Alright everyone... Today is the day that I embark on this crazy journey for the #ladyandtheunicornproject

Here's what I've been up to for the last couple of days...

First of all, I had to switch to 18-count since 22-count fabric is impossible to find for the size I need. I started with getting the pattern ready; it is printed both in color & black 'n white and put in a binder. I'm unsure which version will be more helpful.

I bought all the floss I need (cause I hate running out of supplies in the middle of a project). Everything is labeled, sorted & stored. I also want to make a color chart as I go. If you have any good tips for managing 100 different colors, send them my way!

And of course, a fancy, Victorian-inspired embroidery tool kit. The scissors are attached to a chain cause I'm that person who keeps losing her scissors every 10 seconds while sewing.

Well, here's my set-up so far... I will be working with an 18-count aida. It's a light oatmeal color and I love the natural look of it, which will add to the medieval theme. I also got magnifying glasses to make my life a little easier. Found the perfect custom-made lap frame on etsy, it should be delivered within a week or two. Until then, good ol' wooden hoops it is!

First stitch today, 295,599 to go!!! I will post my progress for self-motivation - follow the tag #ladyandtheunicornproject if you want to see updates. Thanks for the encouragement so far, au revoir everyone!!!

[jolaunay]

Woot woot!!! I'm very happy about my progress this weekend!!!

Using 4826 needles def helps to work faster. No (major) mistakes so far and I'm staying true to the pattern even though Satan whispers in my ear to cut corners with the confetti... But, in a highly detailed pattern like this, a mistake could be crucial. So, I take breaks when I start to see double. Yup, it's taking a toll on my vision...

This is from Friday:

I kept working (almost) all day on Saturday:

Annnddd calling it a night for today:

It just looks so beautiful with every tiny detail. Sooo happy with it !!! 🤩🤩🤩

[jolaunay]

Crafters of the past didn't fuck around...

[jolaunay]

Hello there, Lady!

Been a loooonngg time since I last posted any updates about my "Lady and the Unicorn" project. This photo above is from March, should be from the last time I did any work on it... until this weekend! I got to a point where I started questioning why I'm doing this (basically the curse of any big project), then followed the advice of fellow x-stitchers. I worked on other small projects, and eventually found the will & courage to re-visit with this one.

It has been a very rainy weekend in New England, was giving me so much fall vibes. Lit up a nice scented candle, and spent the saturday working on my project.

Then on sunday... received the devastating news that we said "adieu" to Jane Birkin. I was deeply sad and just needed some time to be by myself. I turned on the movie "Slogan" on YouTube as my background sound while working. For those of you who don't know, it is the movie where she met Serge Gainsbourg, and the rest is history...

Omg, there are more cool gifs from the movie!!! Of course, how can we forget the "closet door dance"?

"Tu m'resembles des vacances" (you remind me of vacation)

The crazy drive down the Champs-Elysées...

And I don't care how unattractive his looks are... If a guy admiringly watches you as you're eating, like so 👇, you fcking fall in love with him!

Anyways, back to the topic! I spent the day working on my embroidery and pretty darn proud of my progress. Looking good so far, can't wait to finish the rest of this page!

[jolaunay]

Joann had a sale this week - 40 cents a skein, whaaaaattttt!!! 😱 So I went n grabbed each n every color of floss that looked pretty 😍 Lots of greens, blues n purples... Some of them will be used for gifts that I'm making for the family members.

Made a little more progress this weekend, just 1.5 rows, no biggie... I'm gonna be working on my side projects during the weeknights and spending weekends with the Lady and the Unicorn. I feel that cross-stitching helps me to unwind and relax, so therapeutic!

Adieu for now babes, hope your Monday won't be too shitty 😘

[jolaunay]

Done for the night, nope, couldn't finish the panel. Still made good progress though, cause fuck super bowl ☺️ Good news: Now we have a medieval bunny without a tail folks!! Gonna go apply the new mud mask I got n tidy up my bedroom while I wait for it to dry. Bonne nuit everyone!

[jolaunay]

Progress photos from this week:

Monday 🌿🪡

Tuesday 🐇🪡

Friday+Saturday xxx🪡

The bunny is almost done. Will I get to finish panel 1 today? I got no plans other than sitting on my ass today - soooo, very likely???

[jolaunay]

Bonjour y'all!! I worked on another project this weekend. I always wanted to try my hand for improvising. Took me about 5-6 hrs to finish it but I think it turned out alright for my first try. This is a gift for a baby's nursery:

I was gonna do backstitching too, but it didn't take me too long to realize that I absolutely suck at it! 😀 Well, I didn't want to ruin the piece so decided to leave it as is. Lesson learnt, need to practice backstitching 🤓

Annnddd here's the progress from the Lady and the Unicorn project for this week:

[jolaunay]

This week has been an absolute shit show... I was dead tired every single day, didn't wanna do nothing other than snoozing after dinner. Made very little progress on the project...

The good news is, my embroidery frame finally came!

And I ordered a bunch of needles cause when you work with 100 colors, it gets super old super quick to thread the needle every ten seconds. These are the "legendary" Bohin needles that all cross-stitchers on Reddit keep talking about.

They are made in France, only the best shit for my Lady and the Unicorn 🦄

Finally yesterday I sat down to attach the fabric to the frame, but guess what...

Although the seller said that frame is good for projects up to 36 inches, the scrolls that came with it are 27 inches long...

What the actual fuck!!!

Yup, right at that moment I realized that I didn't read the fine print - cause fuck that!

I was beyond frustrated, but this girl is not a quitter, never!!! Drove my angry ass to the hardware store at 7 pm and bought pieces that are suitable to recreate a longer scroll.

After about 2 hours of wood cutting, sanding, drilling, metal cutting, screwing and lots of swearing, now I have a 40-inch frame!!!

Eat your heart out Etsy seller with your stupid ass fine print product description!

Now I'm all set up to keep working on my project. It's a cold, gray, gloomy day but I still enjoy the view of my yard. Halfway done with panel 1, 59 more to go 🙃

[jolaunay]

Finally carved out some time to work on my project. Still no embroidery frame in the mail (and no shipping updates from the Etsy seller, hope I won't get screwed over). It would have been easier with the frame since I won't have to re-adjust the fabric every other minute. I really like the way it looks so far. Yes, it is a pain to work with 100 different colors but the level of detail will be worth it once I'm done. I should finish half of page 1 if I keep working on it every night. It helps me to calm down and stay focused 😌

That's all the news from the lady and the unicorn project for this week babes! Stay fab, ciao ✌️😎

[jolaunay]

Just wanted say coucou and post an update on my progress... I messed up terribly cause I used 4 counts of thread instead of 2 (teehee, rookie mistake!!!) and I was no longer able to get the needle through the fabric. So, I started from scratch yesterday. It feels much better now and I feel more confident while working on it.

I used 14 different colors of floss on this tiny section you see. Absolute madness!

I'm going back to work full time next week. I won't be able to spend as much time working on this as I would like. Until then, all the days and nights are mine to enjoy! Will post more updates under the tag #ladyandtheunicornproject next weekend ;)