February WIPocalypse

I hope everyone in the path of the last storm made it through okay.  We had about 7" of snow then a 1/2" of ice and then another couple of inches of snow.  It is a bright and clear day and it has warmed up into the high 40s so a lot of the snow is melting.  They're calling for rain and snow overnight and into tomorrow.  I am joining the chorus of "I am ready for Spring!!" that seems to be so popular right now.

I went in to Michael's today to pick up some reading glasses Yes, reading glasses at a craft store, they have a bunch of really fun colors and patterns and for $2.99 USD a pair I can let my inner child play without guilt

Speaking of inner child, as I was waiting in line to check out, I found these pens:

 

The two on the left are Mary Engelbreit and the one on the right is from Kate Spain.  The best thing about these pens?  Other than their bright colors and fun shape?  And that they were only $1.00 USD each?  They will not walk away from my desk at work!!!  Well they might, but the list of possible culprits will be fairly short as I can rule out the men. 

 

I'm sure Michael's was totally underwhelmed with my total purchase today.  ESPECIALLY since I used a 40% off one item coupon.  Hey, I was not going to waste a perfectly good coupon!!!

 

But onto WIPocalypse.  Measi over at Measi's Musings has hosted the monthly WIPocalypse since 2012.  If you're interested in reading more about it or joining up, click on the dragon

 

This year she has provided us with questions to go along with each month's check-in and I am really enjoying getting to know more about everyone.  This month the question is: How many projects do you generally feel comfortable having in progress at a time? and then a bit about our rotation habits.

 

As far as how many projects do I feel comfortable with?  It has been so long since I felt comfortable with my WIP list, I really couldn't say.  I have narrowed my rotation down to five pieces and don't feel too overwhelmed by that so, I'll say five but reserve the right to change my mind at any time.

 

My rotation habits?  Well, I started out as a strict OAATer (one at a time) and could not understand how anyone could have more than one project going at a time.  Somewhere along the way I discovered how you could have more than one project going at a time.  The problem was, while I was finishing a fair number a year, I was starting many more and ended up in the situation that I am in now with 32 projects in various stages of completion.  I am NOT comfortable with that, hence my joining so many SALs that focus on WIPs.  I have tried various rotations from screaming to very strict 10 hour per project. I found my old rotation sheets the other day.  This is how I used to run my rotation:

Each little square represents an hour and each block has two rows of five squares each.  It was a good way to work when I had lots of stitching time and also helped me answer the question of "How long did it take you to stitch that?".   Then I moved, started the CC crazy commute  and lost the majority of my stitching time.  Ten hours could take me weeks to do as I get maybe an hour total during the workweek and varying amounts of time on the weekends, so I went to my current rotation which is one week.  A project's week starts on Sunday and runs through Saturday.  Whether I get one or one hundred hours of stitching time, on Sunday morning the project is switched out.   I first set up the rotation with every one of my known UFOs in it.  That proved to be too many as I was stitching on each project maybe three weeks a year.  So this year I narrowed it down drastically.  I had originally planned on having only four projects in my rotation  made sense as that would have me stitching on each project at least once a month but when I got Three Tulips for Christmas, I HAD to start it so I gave myself a fifth slot for that - I will move the Lizzie*Kate Mystery Sampler that The Hubs gave me for our anniversary into that slot after all I do have to reinforce good behavior don't I? when the Tulips are done.  Each project in the rotation has an index card and I keep them all hanging on the bulletin board over my desk.  Some have just the name of the project, others, like Three Tulips, have the current project and the one I want to slot in next.  Generally, once a project is finished, I randomly pick a new one from the WIP list and add it to the rotation; however, this year, as I am participating in the Just Nan SAL, there is a dedicated Just Nan slot, that I am fairly certain will continue as a dedicated slot even after the official end of the SAL.  I am also thinking of having a Santa slot as I have a fair number of patterns featuring the Jolly Old Elf and given the time it takes me to stitch a Chatelaine I think that slot could already be considered dedicated!   Eventually I would like to have my WIP list down to no more than five as I first mentioned.

 

If you have stuck around through all that, thank you!  Now, the pictures!! 

 

I have three projects left from my original WIPocalypse list and was able to stitch on all three of them this month. 

 

Santa's Magic by Mirabelia went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

Serengeti by Chatelaine went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

And finally, Elegant Doily by Kayann's Kreations went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

The "cussin jar" in the background is for The Hubs someday I am going to be RICH!!

I have finished almost half of the eyelets in this piece.  This has one more full day on the stand so there should be lots more eyelets come tomorrow night.

I have stitched on other pieces, but I am trying to focus my posts a bit more and they weren't on the WIPocalypse list so they don't get talked about today don't fell too sorry for them though as they will all get their chance in a post!!