Save the Pelican pillow

Hi, so this is the first day of my Crafts-So-Hard blog. I am not much of a writer but here is what I have been up to today, aka "What did I do this time?"

I want to recover some cushions in my office/rec room, but before I get into that I see one pillow I want to keep, (not recover), as is for a reason. This pillow:

was created (needlepoint) many years ago by my mother-in-law. It has sentimental value but has faded in a major way. It use to be very bright and cheery. Previously, I used fabric markers, like these:

to try and bring back the picture. They worked well for small areas, but the water area was still very washed out to me. Time for the big guns:

Of course you need a painted brush too. It didn't take very long and voila. Here is the part way result:

And the finished pillow:

It is so much happier. I will need to do some touch ups later, but now when I see the pillow I have happy memories of Virginia (my mother-in-law), who loved pelicans.

Now, I am up to something else,

Amy