Quickie Update Regarding Latest Work In Progress!!!

Hello there guys!

Well, I'm so tardy at posting of late :(  I realised that I haven't been updating the blog as frequently as I would have liked, but life has been quite hectic recently.  Recently, I have been doing some part-time work *YAY*  I have a friend who works for a local Law firm and a few months ago they had emailed staff to ask if anyone knew of anyone who could come in and work on reception (answering phones, greeting clients) to cover staff holiday and sickness.  My friend asked me if I was interested, and keen to get back to work I said yes.

I've been doing odd days here and there since the middle of April, and it's been really enjoyable.  Not only that, but it's been a wonderful help in overcoming my illness.  However, the days are long (8.45am to 5.30pm) so when I do get home I am tired and don't want to stitch.

The last month has been particularly busy, what with back to work courses, extended Bank Holiday weekends and lots of part-time work!  This week should be quieter (famous last words), so I'm going to try and make the most of it by stitching, crocheting, charting etc... as much as I can!!!

First, lets have an update on the In Stitches:

Tifa is coming along quite nicely, since I took the piccie above, I've done her legs, so now she can walk about...LOL!!!  I'd like to try and get this finished before the end of the week (if possible).  Hopefully when this is done I can finish Yuffie too :)

Next, is the Pokemon Blackwork:

I charted Furret a while ago, but only started stitching him recently.  I've made a few thread changes as I've been going along, and I like how it's looking.  Unfortunately, the above piccie doesn't do it justice as I took it with my phone. The battery in my camera died during the Jubilee weekend and I haven't got round to re-charging it yet (shameful, I know).

Next up will be Psyduck and then I plan to stitch Castform. I have finished charting the 'normal', 'rain' and 'snow' versions, but finding the right fills/colours for his 'sunny' form have defeated me at the present time so I'm having a break whilst I work on other designs.

Finally, the astute amongst you will have noticed the lack of updates regarding my Gettysberg project.  Again this is down to all the crazy stuff going on in my life at the moment.  I've got another large project that I'm working on for Mike's aunty which I should finish first ... but more on that another time methinks!!!

So that's all for now until whenever the next update will be!

Till next time ... keep Kalm and cross-stitch! :) xx

In Stitches - Progress Report

Sometimes, it's a wonder I get any projects finished as I always seem to have so many on the go at once.  While I try to complete my Jubilee projects before our weekend party, I haven't had much time to work on my In Stitches designs :(  I haven't added anything new to Tifa since my last update, but Yuffie is coming along nicely after the various disasters!

Here's where we're up to:

There's a lot of grey shades in the top part of the design!!!

So that's all I have for now.  Last night I managed to complete the next flag I was working on and do a little bit more of my Jubilee sampler, but I was really tired and ended up having an early night.  Hopefully I can finish them today!!!

Till next time ... keep Kalm and cross-stitch! :) xx

In Stitches - Progress Report

Here's where we're up to:

Tifa is coming along quite nicely!

The same cannot be said for Yuffie :(  Started stitching her last night for first time since the hi-lighter incident, which was probably not a good idea, because I was really tired, and you shouldn't stitch when you're tired!  Realised after about an hour of stitching that her fringe wasn't lining up, Oh noes, I miscounted "ARGH!"

Thankfully, the damage wasn't as bad as I thought, but it set me back a while cause I had to un-pick before I could start stitching again!

The small amount of extra stitching doesn't really warrant an update today, but I'm taking her to Stitch and Chat with me this afternoon, so hopefully I'll have a decent progress report in a few days.

So that's the In Stitches out of the way, stay tuned for a new pattern...

Work In Progress Update!

Here's the WIP update I promised, slightly later than planned because I didn't get chance to get on the computer again on Thursday and yesterday I was away from home all day.

As a result, Togepi has been finished (well, he was only small).  Now that my laptop is operational again, I can get the pattern info drawn up, and when I've got him tidied up and scanned, I'll post him -- hopefully over the weekend!

Anyway, the In Stitches are still on-going.  On Thursday afternoon, I made a start on Yuffie whilst up at my mum's, but then I had a disaster -- I got pink hi-lighter on the fabric, so I had to sponge the fabric, which meant I couldn't do anymore!!!  

Thankfully, she's now dried off, and once I've ironed the fabric, I'll carry on with her.

Here's what I've done of Tifa and Yuffie so far:

These may be the last two In Stitchers characters I do for a while, so if you're a fan of the series, savour them.  I'm still getting requests for character for these too.  Those of you who've been watching me long enough will know that I ran a poll to see which characters you wanted to see, with the most popular being turned into patterns.  The list of characters has been decided, and I'm not adding to it anymore.  I really want to put this series to bed now so that I can concentrate on other projects -- especially the Pokmon.

I have a busy weekend so I don't expect to do much, but I'll up date again soon!

Till next time ... keep Kalm and cross-stitch! xxx

Work In Progress Round Up

Well  guys, we're almost at the end of another month, and I thought it was time for another update regarding my Pokemon Blackwork series.

At the moment, I'm working on Amoongus - here's what I've done with him so far:

I'd like to try and get him done before the end of the month, but this is looking unlikely.

I have a few other Pokemon ready to stitch after this, but I've decided that next month I'm not going to work on any more Pokemon designs as I want to focus on my "In Stitches" series.  I haven't stitched any of those for ages and I think I need to get the series finished so March (and possibly April too) will be dedicated to working on them.

Don't worry, I'm not abandoning the Pokemon, they're just having a few months off and I promise that the pattern for Amoongus will be up on BOX.net once I've finished stitching him!

So that's all for now.  I'll hopefully have an update regarding my Gettysberg project by the end or the month!

Till next time ... keep Kalm and Cross-stitch! xx

Pokemon Blackwork -- current WIP

Time for another update regarding my Pokemon Blackwork series!


Here's where we're up to:

Mewtwo is more or less done now.  I have a few amendments to make to the pattern before I convert it to PDF, but I expect to have the pattern up for you at some point over the weekend.

Flygon is also coming together quite nicely:

As you can see, I'm never satisfied with a pattern and usually find that I am constantly making changes and amendments to the pattern as I'm stitching.  Flygon has had quite a lot of changes as I've been going on and I suspect I'll make a few more still before it's finished!!!

All these photos have been uploaded to my Facebook page HERE.  You should check them out, because I've added some extra images for Flygon that I haven't included here!!!

Finally, you'll recall I presented a new list of work in progress last week.  Before you groan, no I haven't amended it again!  I finally got round to making up the charts for Victini, Foongus and Amoongus -- all generation 5 critters these, so expect something a little different!!!

Out of the remaining critters, I expect to get Furret and Castform charted soon.  I know Rayquaza is on the list too, but his grid is quite complicated and it might be a while before I put together fill patterns and colours I'm happy with.

Not only that, but I feel I've neglected my In Stitches characters for a while, so I may have to have a few Pokemon free months whilst I stitch/chart up some new characters!!!

So that's all for now, hope you all have a great weekend!

Till next time ... keep Kalm and cross-stitch! xx

Pokemon Blackwork -- current WIP

Greetings guys, hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, so far!

Thought it was time for an update regarding my Pokemon Blackwork series.  I'm currently working on two designs at the moment -- Mewtwo and Flygon.

First up, lets have a look at Mewtwo's progress:

Close up of the fill patterns!!!

This design took a long time to come together as I couldn't find fill patterns I was happy with.  I'm still not sure if they work, but I shall keep working this till it's finished.

The next design I'm working on is Flygon.  I started this back in October, but I had only stitched a small amount of wing, so it wasn't worth showing pictures of a piece of evenweave fabric with a small blob of pink on it :D

I started work on this again last week and its coming along quite nicely:

I've been tweaking the pattern quite a bit whilst I've been working on this one (cause I'm never satisfied), but I'm liking how this is looking!

They're coming together quite quickly but with a few other projects on the go as well, I dunno when they will be finished.  I mentioned on my Facebook page last week that I had finished charting Milotic and having used my mum's printer to print the chart, I'm itching to start it!!!

I may give into temptation this week, especially now that I have been able to get the table clamp I wanted to hold my hoops.  I came to the conclusion recently that holding a hoop had been the cause of my wrist injury, and even though I've only had my clamp a few days, I've noticed the difference already :)

Finally, I have a revised list of Pokemon for the blackwork treatment.  These are the critters who are in the 'work in progress' stage:

• Rayquaza
• Victini
• Furret
• Castform (incl. water/ice/fire versions)
• Foongus
• Amoongus

I suspect some of you are probably fed up of me changing the list about so much!

Anyway, expect more updates soon!

Till next time ... keep Kalm and cross-stitch! xx