Default context isn't selected in field widget form

I tried to set a default context for a field instance, but no matter what I tried, the default never showed up as the default value in the context field. After doing some digging, I found that the default wasn't being passed into $items in the hook_field_widget_form. The default is in $instance. I created a patch that sets the default from $instance if $items is empty. Let me know if there's a better way to do this.

Cheers,
nielsonm