WIPocalypse January

Well that wasn’t a very good start to the WIPocalypse year at all, was it?  Already late with the first post for the year!!!  I need to update my calendar with all the dates, I think!  I also haven’t been doing too well over the last few days with my stitching either … although I managed to get through quite a bit last weekend.  I’ll get to that shortly … first I need to do my ‘official’ WIPocalypse introduction post … to be specific I need to “Introduce yourself, your projects, and any goals you have for the year!”

This is my 3rd year of doing the WIPocalypse, and in truth I don’t intend to spend the year just focusing on my WIPs … I DO intend to work from my substantial chart/kit stash, however, and will only buy additional stash this year if I’m missing threads etc to kit up my projects.  This year I’m also going back to a formal rotation, of which I have 10 rotation slots, and stitching allocations of 10 hours per slot (with the exception of the “Finishing” slot, which I’m allowed to just do 5 hours … but no less than 5 hours!).

The main projects I really REALLY want to finish this year are some commitment pieces, some UFOs, and those designs I’ve already spent a bucketload of money on to kit them up (eg specialty threads etc).  In particular I’d like to work on the following, irrespective of seeing them finished or not by the year’s end:

1. Angel of Love – L&L (hope to finish this one)
2. Quaker Christmas II – ByGone Stitches
3. Egyptian Garden Sampler – Chatelaine
4. English Garden Sampler – TW (hope to finish this one)
5. Elie’s wedding sampler (hope to finish this one)
6. Miss Valentine Fairy – Nora Corbett/Mirabilia (will finish this one easily)
7. Christmas Elf Dairy – Nora Corbett/Mirabilia (hope to finish this one)
8. Cross Stitcher in Residence – Lizzie*Kate (will finish this ASAP)
9. Eiffel Quaker – Jardin Private (will finish this one)
10. Poppy Pixie – Nora Corbett/Mirabilia (will finish this one ASAP)
11. Crimson Fire Sampler – The Victoria Sampler (almost finished with this one)
12. Christmas double flip-its – Lizzie*Kate (hope to finish this one)

Anything over and above those projects will be icing on the cake 🙂

My rotation is already making some great inroads into a few of these projects – Crimson Fire Sampler has been a sadly neglected UFO since the 2011 Crazy January Challenge … after 10 hours working on this one last weekend I was so close to a finish that I extended my rotation slot by another couple of hours.  Now I’m just left with the hardanger band left to do, and it will be my first UFO finish of the year … woohoo!!  Following is how it looks now, before completing the hardanger band … hopefully I’ll get a better photo over the weekend in daylight, and I’ll be taking the photo of the finished article!!

The only other news I have is that I saw my GP today for the results of my nuclear scans … there is no stress fracture, however the heel pains that I’ve had for so long have been putting extra stress on the rest of my foot, and it showed more arthritis in my foot, which is exacerbated by the plantar fasciitis.  As my heel pain has been returning quite quickly again, I’ve got another script for a cortisone shot under ultrasound yet again … but my GP is also now referring me to an Orthopaedic Surgeon to review surgical options.  I’ve got to give my GP his dues, he’s really trying to get to the bottom of it all, bless him … which I’m not thrilled to have the potential of surgery in my near future, I WILL be thrilled to finally have an outcome that will see me walking normally and without pain every single day … will have to wait and see I guess …