Sugar Skulls and Uneven Evenweave

I stitched up these cute sugar skulls from a free pattern found here:
http://commonthread.us/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Octubre-Halloween-Chart.pdf

I stitched the skulls on 14 count white plastic canvas, backed the ornaments with black felt and added a black satin ribbon loop for hanging.

Last week I had a dental appointment that I was dreading, so I made myself a "goodie package" to look forward to when it was over.  My goodie package included the pattern, fabric, threads and beads I needed to start Sandy Orton's "Spanish Sampler".  (shown below)

Well ... I survived the dentist and excitedly started the sampler. I measured and cut the fabric and zigzag stitched the edges.   Following the instructions, I started stitching from the outside border.  

After counting and recounting.  Measuring and remeasuring.  Stitching and frogging and stitching again ... I knew something was "off".  I finally realized that my evenweave was in fact, uneven!

When I figured that out, I continued on with the border to get an idea of how the project would be affected.

This is what my border looks like currently:

Stitched on 28 count over 2 threads: I ended up with 13 stitches to the inch across and 14 stitches to the inch down, which makes this "evenweave" 26 x 28 count. Uugh!

I know this doesn't look like much progress, but I have 2 days and several hours into the project.  My sweetie thinks that the stitching will draw the focus and no-one will even think about the project not being square.

Me: "Well, I'm a slightly irregular person, so the project suits me."
Sweetie: "SLIGHTLY?"

So, I will probably continue on with the project and see how it goes.  lol. 

PS.  The uneven evenweave is MCG Textiles: