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.