WIPGO update April & May 2021

My goal for WIPGO this year is to work 10hrs on each project in the month in which it is called, and so far I've been managing to keep up with the stitching, even if I am late sharing it here with you.  

WIPGO numbers called for April and May covered these projects:

#3 - Square Tile Sampler - might not look like much but this was a 10 hour start on this lovely tile motif design.

#21 - Celebrate Spring - this beautiful pattern from Madame Chantillly was a real pleasure to work on.  I hope I can get back to it soon.  That little shepherdess needs her sheep!

#19 - Create Every Day  - this little stitch has now been fully finished into a project bag which I have written about here in more detail.

#22 - MFE 2020 SAL - I was sneaking in the stitching when I could to make the 10 hour goal on this one.  When Little Miss was happily absorbed by the Smurfs I managed to tick off the last hour for this WIPGO goal.

I have now moved on to my June goals.  Both of those called are Valentine patterns and I'm going to enjoy them very much.  WIPGO has certainly been motivational for this early part of the year.  Hoping I can keep it up!

March 2021 WIPGO Goals Review

Little bit late sharing March's WIPGO review with you but I did meet my goals in the month so another big smile on my face for that!  My WIPGO focus projects were numbers were my Bee Happy Needlepoint and the Shine On Sampler cross stitch.

I'm pleased to show you the before and after of my 10hrs progress on Bee Happy (a needlepoint kit from Historical Sampler Company).

   

Before March I hadn't quite finished the border.

Ten hours of WIPGO goal focus later and the border is filled out and I've made a good start on the central background stitches.  It's lovely to see this progress and in order to keep seeing progress, I've decided to make Bee Happy my Daily Thread project for April.  (My Daily Thread is a new to me motivating initiative whereby I will try to stitch at least one thread length into a given project every day of a month.)

The Shine On cross stitch sampler from Bonnie & Camille's Quilt Bee book was a completely new start for me since my book hadn't arrived at the beginning of the month.  It showed up a few days into March and I was able to make good progress in my 10 hour time goal, even catching up to the third week of the Fat Quarter Shop SAL.  I'm still up to date with that but just haven't managed any more recent pics.

WIPGO might seem rather arbitrary, but there are no WIPGO police and I have set the "rules" of my board, so I can change them if needs be.  So far, so good though.  I am managing the 10 hours goals on two projects a month and am still finding ways to stitch other things besides.

This weekend will be the first of my 10 hour focus sessions for April's numbers.  I'll share that with you soon.

February 2021 - Cross Stitch WIPGO

You know that cross stitch rabbit hole I fell down and all the shiny things I want to stitch I was telling you about?  Well, here's how I plan to help myself along with that - WIPGO. 

If you haven't heard of WIPGO, which I hadn't until a week ago, it's a kind of Bingo-like draw which encourages you to work on a list of projects you identify as part of WIPGO and goals that you set for it.  I guess initially, it was intended that you would nominate your WIPs, assign them a number on your WIPGO (bingo) board and work on those WIPs when the monthly numbers were randomly called.  Clear as mud?  Jessie Marie can explain it much better than I ever will.  Anyway, now WIPGO can include projects that are WIPs, new starts you want to make, whatever.  You are in control of the plan and the goal setting, just not the random draw of two numbers for each month.

Now that I understand WIPGO a little, I thought it would be a great way for me to deal with the question of "where do I start?" in terms of managing everything I see and want to stitch.  Since there are no deadlines for any of this stitching, I aim to keep it varied and fun while making a little progress and avoiding the forever UFO situation.  Those of you with a nervous disposition might prefer not to think about what this means in terms of projects on the go at any one time, or allowable new starts;-)

So, with apologies for the long pre-amble, here's my WIPGO board for 2021 (starting in February) - 

Working left to right across the rows and top row to bottom, the spaces are numbered 1 to 25.  Each month Jessie Marie calls two numbers randomly, and those will be my WIPGO focus projects for the month.  I have decided that my goal for each project on the board is to make time to stitch on that project for 10 hours over 2 consecutive days (most likely a weekend) when that project's number is called.

Numbers 4 and 20 have been called for February.

#4 True Friends - This is a kit from my first ever subscription box from Cotton & Twine. It just arrived last week, so I'm delighted it's going to be a new start under WIPGO right away!

#20 O Holy Night Advent Calendar - at the other end of the spectrum, this is my longest ever cross-stitch WIP. I've not stitched on it since about 2006!!! Time to show it some attention and hope maybe it encourages me to continue picking it up throughout the year.  So far I have only stitched some of the little ornaments that hang on it.  There's not a single stitch in the actual (rather huge) calendar backdrop!

Happy to have a plan.  I'm not expecting miracles, just progress.