Still plugging away

Most of my stitching is samplers or smalls, which you probably know if you have been following here for any length of time. I do have a few large picture designs that I want to do, most of them florals. When you live somewhere where Winter is the dominant season you sometimes have to grow your flowers with needle and thread. One of the flowers I have come to love since moving to Alaska is the peony. We have a plant growing in the front yard that through total neglect by me produces beautiful blooms all summer. They make me smile every time I see them. I have quite the collection of peony graphs for stitching. During the last online needlework show I found a peony biscournu to do which seems a more doable size flower to stitcher considering the never ending hummers. I think I will add it to the line up for the new year.
As you can tell I am trying to get organized for next years stitching line up. In years past I belonged to a group online that had a challenge to do one strand a day on a project that was not a regular rotation piece but that you really wanted to finish but were not currently motivated to work much on. That worked surprisingly well for me and I think I will bring it back for next year. I will pull something from the Longgggggggg WIP list to put in that position.
So for rotation the way I have done it in years past I pick 4 pieces to change every Monday. I get most of my stitching time over the weekend. Variations on this included having something different that I only stitched on at my weekly stitch night with my friends. Having a project that I did just one strand a night and then moved back to the rotation piece. I almost always carry a piece with me in my purse for unexpected down time ( I also have my IPod which only has podcasts and books on tape just in case).
I also used to have a piece in my car for travel stitching. If you have even been to Alaska you know nothing is close and drive time can be several hours. During the summer with all that lovely long hours of daylight that is prime stitching time. So I have a little stitching bag I keep in the back seat just in case. Right now there are two smallish Santa designs in there. Sometimes I think I enjoy the planning as much as I do the stitching!

So 2013 rotation as it stands now
Maryland sampler from Heartease
A gift for a friend
Dorothy Walpole
The hummers and then Ann Bowers or Common Grounds by Just Nan
ATS will be my One strand a night piece
Peony Biscournu, then White work sampler, the EGA Piece from the WIP pile for Thursday night
In the car monthly freebies teacups and teapots
Purse piece mill hill moose, then stockings from BBD

So other than the gifts for friends, and SAL pieces the rest are all from the WIP pile. I am committed to getting the pile smaller! I stitch slowly though so it will take a while. And it may not go this way at all as plans are held loosely here. I am more likely to accomplish more if I have decided ahead of time what I want to do as opposed to getting lost in the stash room looking for a WIP I know I have "somewhere". Over December I will tweak the list, dust off the project bags and arrange the current rotation into my big pink stitching bag so it is an easy move from one piece to the next. Of course, I am determined not to start this until I finish the hummers so off I go to pull them out to put a few more stitches in. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have some stitching  time in your day!
Marjo