WIPGO - here we go

Even though I love my rotation and it has served me well, I have been watching from the sidelines as various stitch alongs, cute hashtags and fun online games / challenges have passed me by as I work on my same four things.  I will NOT be totally running off the rails though.  I do want to finish all four of the projects that are currently in the rotation (the Unicorn pillow, my son's USMC seal, Dutch Beauty and the Plaza sewing bag that will be coming into the rotation the next time around).

I have already let myself add one SAL - the Blackbird weekend SAL with Brenda and the Serial Starter on Flosstube / Instagram.  That's one weekend a month for up to five hours of stitching on Saturday/Sunday (and Monday if it's a long holiday weekend).   That will eventually whittle down the 36 remaining Blackbird Loose Feathers Club kits in the stash.  I originally had 40 (years worth of shipments from the Old Mill Stitchery, which was Barb and Alma's LNS when they first started designing in the early 2000s); I did the very first one "Spring's Promise" (which is still in the 'to be framed pile') and did one of the early needlebooks "Pumpkin Blossom Needlecase" as a gift.  Years ago, I gave "Blackbirds Winter Delivery" to JC's girlfriend at the time because she raved over it.  And I'm working on "Moon Garden" currently.  I'm not doing them in any particular order, just picking the next one that appeals to me.

I have dozens of small ornament sized projects kitted up in the stash.  Dozens.   As with the BBD Loose Feathers overload, if I want to whittle down that list, I have to actually work on them somehow.

I have been slightly aware of WIPGO - a work in progress / stash busting game on Facebook.  Basically, every year in late December you choose 24-25 goals and put them in the spaces on a "Bingo" card on a numbered five by five grid (center - spot 13 - can be a 'free' space).  Then every month, the moderator pulls two random numbers and you work on those project / goal numbers.  On the month that 13 is picked, there are three numbers.

Even though it's more than halfway through the year, I filled out a board.   I blacked out the numbers that have already been called so far this year, marked half of the remaining spots with 'ten hours on the current rotation' just to keep it going.   Then chose a few ornaments, an Altoids box topper, the remaining tape measure case and plopped them in to finish off my board for the remainder of 2021.

September numbers are 15 and 25.  Fifteen is one of the "10 hours on current rotation" blocks and I'll keep working on Dutch Beauty - which will also let me double dip in #samplerseptember.  Number 25 is a Mill Hill Pin kit (MHBH2 "Winter Nights") that has been in my stash for decades (published 1997!).   The perforated paper is a little beat up and the pin back is long gone.   That's OK, I don't wear pins, but it will make a nice tree ornament.   I have a scrap of ribbon that is a very near match to the DMC 931 used in the 'sky' area to use as a hanger.

Here's where I got after a couple of hours last night and over lunch today.  

All of the sky area is done.  All the rest of the ornament is beaded.  Four colors, with the white having two sizes of beads.

I will see if I can keep the rotation going and still have time to do an ornament occasionally.