Most of my followers will know by now that I don't update my journal on here that often.  Given that I have a blog, I don't see the point.  I will still continue to use deviantART to showcase my work, but if you wants news, gossip, patterns etc... then please check out my blog:

GATCHASTITCH BLOG - [link]


You can also find me here too:


FACEBOOK - [link]

TWITTER - [link]

RAVELRY - [link]

Wishing all my watchers a super duper 2013!!

Looking forward to this being a good year, and plenty of stitching too!!!

Keep checking my Blog and Facebook page for regular updates of what I am up to!!!



GATCHASTITCH BLOG - [link]

GATCHASTITCH FACEBOOK - [link]

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER - [link]

FOLLOW ME ON RAVELRY - [link]

I know I'm a day late but I wanted to wish all my watchers a very Happy Christmas!  

I hope you all had a wonderful day and that Santa brought you just what you wanted this year

Enjoy the rest of your holidays ... have fun ... but be safe!!!

Best wishes,

Cazzy (aka Gatchacaz) xxx

[link]

Recently, I was asked to give an interview for the Sprite Stitch blog regarding my blackwork designs.

I am always keen to promote my blog, so I said yes!

The interview was published on Saturday, and you can read it in full here: [link]

Let me know what you guys think

Happy New Year to one and all!!!

I hope you all had a great holiday and are now looking forward to the year ahead.

After two stinky years on the trot, I'm hoping that  this year will be a good one.  This month particularly will be all about making a new start.  I plan to de-clutter my life, have a good sort through all my stuff and get rid of stuff I don't need or use any more.

As always, I shall be focusing on the stitching and this year I hope to do bigger and better things.

Finally, most of you have probably realised I don't post journal's on here very often.  Given that I have a blog, I tend to put all my news on there and I think that will probably be the way forward this year too.   Obviously, I'll continue posting all my artwork on here but probably not journals.  

I usually update my blog several times a week, so if you want to know what I'm up to, you can find all about it there.  As I will be closing my website shortly, you can now access my patterns via my blog (if you didn't know this already).

If you have yet to see my blog, you can find it here: [link]

For those of you on Facebook, you can follow me there too: [link]

So that's all I have to say for now, except have a great 2012, lets hope all our dreams come true!!! xx

Wishing all my watchers a very merry Christmas!

Whatever you are doing today, have fun ... but be safe!

Lots of love, Cazzy

Greetings fans!

Well, this week has sucked not being able to stitch.  I've been quite twiddly thumbs all week.  Thankfully, my poorly wrist has not prevented me from drawing and charting some new blackwork projects that I plan to start in the New Year.

Speaking of Next Year, I plan to start selling some of my stitched pieces -- as of yet I don't know which ones, but biscornu's are definitely on the list.

On Tuesday when I was in town with my mum, I got chatting to a lady who was handing out flyers for a craft fair at my local church hall today.  Naturally, craft fairs are a good place to test the waters and I told her I wanted to get into making my own stuffs to sell.  She was very encouraging and told me to pop down for a mooch -- tables (if I wanted one) were £5.00 and proceeds go to a charity of the church's choice.

So I went along this morning and spent a long time chatting with Pat (the lady I met in town), who makes her own cards and knitted goods, and then another lady who does some amazing crochet blankets and stuff and finally I met Linda, a lovely jolly lady who I could have chatted to all day   She also told me that they have their own "stitch and chat" group on a Friday afternoon and that I was welcome to go along (she has also promised to show me how to knit!!!)

Unfortunately, I can't attend next Friday as I'm going to my sister's (we're off to see Duran Duran at the LG Arena in Birmingham!) and the next meeting isn't  until the New Year but I've told her I will defo go along -- I'm hoping that I can get my mum to go too, as she loves to cross-stitch and I think it'll be good for her to get out of the house and meet new people.

The next craft fair is not until the end of February, but it will give me time to work on ideas, make things up and decided what I'm going to charge.  I've been told that even if I don't have enough stock to sell, I can still have a table to show off my work!!!

I'm very excited about it!!!!

I'll let you know how it goes over the coming months!

I went to the doctors today about my left wrist because it's been giving me grief for a month now and nothing I was doing to ease the pain has been working.

I have tendonitis

My doctor has told me that I need to rest it and, if at all possible, cut back on the stitching, crochet etc...

I had a sneak feeling he would say this but I am still annoyed by it because (believe it or not), I'm actually ahead of schedule with my Christmas stitching this year!  The doctor prescribed for me some ibuprofen gel and a tubi-grip bandage and we'll see over the next few days if things improve.

In the meantime, I have designs to chart and as I don't need my left wrist for that, it should give me a chance to get up to date with my charting, and rest my wrist at the same time.

Hopefully, normal service will be resumed shortly!

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

Firstly,  I want to apologise for being really tardy when it comes to replying to comments and thanking for faves.  I do read all my comments and stuff, but sometimes it can take forever to reply to everyone, and it may be a case that I stop thanking people etc...  I'd ask people not to be offended, it's just that the busier my inbox gets, the longer it takes to clear it!

For those of you who fav my work on a regular basis, I should really thank you for your continued support -- it means a hell of a lot to me, so BIG hugs to you all (and you know who you are)

Oh, and I've had quite a lot of new watchers lately, so welcome to you guys as well!!!


Right, getting down to business...

Recently, I've been getting more and more people say to me that I need to start designing/stitching and selling my works.  I dunno whether I could make a full time business from it, but it could certainly earn me some pocket money.

From a copyright point of view I don't know where I would stand regarding video-game themed charts/kits etc.. (this is something I need to research more), but there is nothing stopping me for now at least selling stuff I've created myself.

I'm trying to think of different themes and stuff and the first one is "Perfect Pets Biscornus".  

Those who've been following me for a while will know I'm very much a cat lover, as I have my own moggie (although she still lives lives with my mum).  I appreciated that not everyone loves cats so I need to know from you guys, what you consider to be your favourite animal companion.

It can be anything - dog, rabbit, hamster.  Even obscure pets likes lizards and fish can be considered.

The most obvious ones will get turned into charts for sale, the obscure ones may get considered on a commission basis.  At the moment this is all still very embryonic and it probably won't be till the New Year that I can focus my attention to this properly.

For now though, I'd be grateful for your feedback!

Cheers! xxx

Guys, I've uploaded loads of new patterns!!!

So if you fancy stitching Pokeballs, Pokedex 3D AR Markers and WipEout logos this weekend, be sure to head over to my blog and check them out: [link]

Hi there guys!

Well it's been a while since my last post on here and I realised that I needed to update those of you who probably don't read my blog about issues I've been having with my website.

Lately, I haven't been able to access my website.  I don't know why, but last week I came to the decision that I was going to have to find an alternative place to host my patterns.  I have now done this and from now on, all my patterns can be downloaded via a page I set up on my blog.

All new patterns will be uploaded here from now on and I shall probably dispense with my website altogether.

I personally think that it'll be easier to maintain this way.

So Gatchastitch has a shiny new coat.  If you haven't seen it already, check it out and let me know what you think: [link]

For the benefit of any watchers that don't read my blog, I thought you might be interested to know that I finally finished my thread conversion charts for Anchor to DMC and DMC to Anchor!

You can download them here: [link]

Hope you find them useful!!

Thanks to those of you who replied to my previous journal.

I know it's only been up a few days and I've not had that many replies, but between here, my blog and facebook it would appear that you guys like the idea of cross-stitch patterns for the Pokedex 3D AR Markers.

I have therefore added charts for the first ten markers (000-009) to my gallery.  I've also put them in their own folder too, so they can be easily accessed: [link]

I have worked out that there are 152 standard markers plus the additional ones relating to gender and form.

I shall be posting the charts numerically so if you really want Reshiram then you will have to wait as my list has holes that need to be filled first!

I aim to post about 10 or so charts at a time.


DISCLAIMER

This is the first time that I have hosted patterns on deviantART.  Those who read my blog/website will know my stance on this, but for those who haven't ... remember the following:

The charts are for your own personal use ONLY
The charts must NOT be sold
If you use the charts, please be sure to give cedit!

Finally, if I find out that people are not adhering to my rules, then I will have no alternative but to remove the patterns!

Anyone with a 3DS who loves their Pokemon will no doubt have downloaded the FREE Pokedex 3D.  The 3DS' augmented reality feature helps to bring these critters into glorious 3D, if you read the approprite marker.

It took me a while to figure out how to do this, but then that got me thinking as to whether an AR maker made from cross-stitch would actually work!  Curiosity got the better of me, so I charted the marker for Oshawott and stitched it up.

When it was finished, I booted up Pokedex 3D and almost squealed with delight as the 3DS' AR cameras read the marker and up popped a 3D version of Oshawott (very cute he was too).

After that, I decided to stitch the rest of the starters and curiosity has turned into a wierd obsession to chart patterns for all the Unova critters (including gender and form differences) and then host the patterns so that like minded Pokemon addicts can also stitch them.  So far, I have charts for about 117 critters (although I have lost track of which ones I've actually done).  

This might sound like a pointless task (and you'd probably be right), but it's just something really quirky I wanted to do.  

I can't help thinking that these would be ideal projects to make keyrings, badges and other motifs too, so...

...is this a pointless thing to do?

If I was to chart all 150+ critters and post the patterns on here, would anyone want to stitch them, and if so, what would you stitch them for?

Your comments would, as always, be most appreciated!

Greetings!

It came to my attention recently via my DA friend that DA is blocking external links to my website.  It appears a few other of my DA friend's are experiencing the same problem too!

DA have given no explaination and their Help Centre has been no help.

This is extremely frustrating to those of us who are trying to promote our fan-based sites.

As a result, I have had to remove the website links from my profile page and my signature.

The good news is that the links to my blog and facebook page appear unaffected.  Links to these sites are mentioned on my profile page and my signature and you can follow links from those sites to my website!

If anyone has any queries regarding this or is having trouble finding the links, please send me an email and I will send you the link etc...  DO NOT send me a note through here because DA will probably block it etc...

Sorry if this has caused any grief, I am as annoyed as you guys!

Till next time ... Keep Kalm and Cross-stitch!

Hey guys, how's it going today?

I've recently been thinking about creating a website solely for my Blackwork projects.  

Later this month I hope to start adding a page for my Pokemon Blackwork series, but this will ultimately mean an overhaul of the blackwork page.

I've pretty much decided that blackwork is going to be the technique of choice when I start desiging my own patterns and it seems only fair that they have a separate website for the patterns and I also want to start including tips, hints and even an library of fill patterns!

I've put a poll up on my facebook page this morning to try and glean some feedback, but I also want to know what your thoughts on this are.

Cheers!

Oh, here's da link to my facebook page: [link]

Hey guys, just a quick update to let you know that there are LOTS of new patterns on my website!

Be sure to check them out!!!

Oh, and may I just say thanks for all the comments/faves etc... I've had lately.  I will reply to them all personally, but my inbox is rammed so it may take a while!

Cheers! xx

It's been a very long week.  Tuesday, was my dad's funeral.  It was a difficult day which didn't get off to a good start thanks to an altercation with the girl who lives in the flat below!

So that wound me up before I'd even left home!

Anyway, the service itself was full of raw emotion and sadness, but it was very nicely done and the vicar was lovely.  After the service it was back to my dad's local pub, "The Grove Inn" for his wake  -- plenty of Irish music (my dad was a fan of the Dubliners) and shots of Bells whiskey (another of my dad's favs).  After the toast and the food, most people left leaving us family and a few of my dad's closest friends to drink the bar dry!!!

We had all be in the pub the previous Saturday and had drunk all their stock of Sailor Jerry rum, so the landlord, Ben, had to go buy some more.  It's just as well because on Tuesday, we drank another two-thirds of a bottle!!!  I also had three shots of Bells (my sister had four!!!)

Let's just say we were all a little worst for wear when it came to going home.  My brother thought it would be a good idea to go play on the swings in the local playground, and the slide looked quite tempting through beer googles!  Of course, it's easy to forget you're not six anymore -- as I whooshed off the end of the slide, I trapped my foot and went over on my ankle *OUCH*

So I ended the day spraining my ankle.  My brother-in-law (who's an RAF medic) put ice on it when we got back to my mum's, but was not best pleased I walked home on it!  The next day my ankle was swollen like a tennis ball and it was terribly painful so I decided to get it checked out with a trip to the local minor injuries unit.

The nurse who assessed me confirmed it was just a bad sprain and gave me crutches.  She says it will take 10-14 days to get better!!!  

Oh, and if you don't believe me, here's da proof (thanks to my fiance): [link]

Well I've been harping on about having a fan-page on Facebook for ages, and finally, I created it today!

Please feel free to 'Like' the page.  Those of you who I know on Facebook have already had an invite, but if I've forgotten you (and I have a memory like a sieve sometimes), then please click on the Link below!

I'm also planning to use the page to host the gallery for my website, so as I'm always saying on my blog ... if you stitch my work and want me to showcase it, email me a piccie and I'll add it to the gallery.

Ahh, and before I forget, here is da link: [link]

Look forward to seeing you over there!!!