It's been a while

Hello all,

Did I, or did I not tell you that I am useless at keeping up together with things like this? For someone who intended on doing weekly blogs, I have just realised that I've not posted anything here since April!! Where on earth has this year disappeared to? It has seriously flown by!

So anyway, here I am (finally), but I'm not even going to start trying to catch up on what I've missed blogging about since April. The year has been going so well. KLT Charting were very proud to take part in the Summer SAL with 6 other designers. It was the perfect opportunity to showcase our businesses, make new friends and of course, increase our wishlists! In fact, the SAL went so well that we came back to do it again, only this time there were 9 businesses involved, and we were showing off not only designers, but dyers got involved too. The Winter SAL is still on going, so if you haven't already taken a look, the Facebook group can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/428526377336417/ and you'll be able to see work not only from KLT Charting, but also Jodyri Designs, Charting Creations, Paine Free Crafts, Stitchers Anon Cross Stitch Designs, Eclectic Bloke Designs, Shannon Christine Designs, Thread Pickerz and Tilton Crafts. I know... what an amazing selection, right? There really is something for everyone!

As well as working with other designers, I have of course been working on KLT Charting's goodies. The hand dyed fabric side of things has taken off well. We now have a good selection of colours and choices available. I have set a target number and will soon be reaching that target. Once it is reached, I plan on going back and re-evaluating the collection. Those that don't sell, or are particularly difficult to dye will be discontinued and replaced with (hopefully) better colours and styles.

Charting time has been limited lately, but I've been trying to get myself organised so get back on top of things. As well as my own work, I have charts from Chele Cooke, Becky Sheehan and Amy Simmonds sitting in my inbox waiting to be sorted out into charts. As soon as I am back on top of my custom request list, I will get them all up on the website for you to drool over.

As I said, I can't fill you in on ALL the charts I have designed since April, but would like to show you this one which I have charted in memory of those who lost their lives in the terrible terrorist attacks in Paris. However, I was very aware that Paris isn't the only place we need to keep in our thoughts, and as such, I welcome you to change the colours of the candles to anything which suits your purposes. This is 'Pray for the World'

Pray for the World is a copyright free design, meaning you are welcome to stitch it and share it around free of charge. You can find your copy of the chart in the files section of the KLT Charting Facebook group.

For those who are in my facebook group, no doubt I haven't really told you anything you didn't already know, so I should rectify that... time for some exciting news!

The most recent order placed and fulfilled via my website was number 969, so I am super excited to be so close to reaching the 1000 mark! January will see KLT Charting's second birthday and I would absolute love it if we hit the 1000th order before then. I can tell you that the person who places the 1000th order will win a very special prize!

If I manage to organise myself to do another blog before the 1000th order, I will keep you updated as to what number we are at.

In the meantime, don't be afraid to hit the comments section with any thoughts, suggestions or questions - I love to know that people might be reading my ramblings ;)

Until next time (whenever that might be!!), happy stitching!

Kim x

Weekly Update 2

I've been busy busy this week, or rather this fortnight, with a few new charts to tell you about, as well as the release of the new fabric of the month. This fabric is Easter Bunny and is only available for the month of April 2015. It is shades of yellows and brown, and I do get so annoyed with the fact I just can't get an accurate picture to show the colours of these fabrics! The yellow is brighter than shown, 

As for charts, I've had a few new releases as I continue to work my way through my request list. All of the following were requested, but lack of personalisations mean they can go on the website for general sale in case anyone else is interested in them.

Blame

 Connected by the Heart

Dance Magic Dance

Women are Angels

In Words - Snowboarder

In Words - Tea

And then we have a few charts that come hand in hand with the first of the month....

April sees the release of a new Presley all dressed up ready for the chocolate hunting - Easter Presley Penguin

As part of the KLT Charting monthly club, members also receive a chart which no one has seen before. Once the month for the chart is over, it goes on general sale on the website for everyone else. March's club chart was the Tribal Skull

And, a new month brings a new charity to support. I always try to design a new chart if I can, and this month the chosen charity is the British Heart Foundation, so I created this... Heart Winged Butterfly

Phew, I think that's everything! I didn't realise how many new releases there had been since my last update until I just listed them like that haha.

I'm also planning on having a new start this week. I really did have all the best intentions of working on my WIP, but since starting it, my stitchy bug has been a bit hit or miss. I have utterly fallen in love with the April club chart. I know you probably think I'm biased since it's one of my charts, but I didn't actually design it... it's from the artwork of Chele Cooke, I just made it into a chart! I would love to be able to show it to you, but that wouldn't be fair on my club members, so I guess you're just going to have to wait to see what it is! But I have dyed the fabric I want to use (I've gone for 18 count 'Sea Mist'), the threads I'm missing are on order (DMC all the way on this one), but I have plenty I can be doing while I'm waiting for them to arrive. You never know, I might show a WIP update next time I'm on here! 

As always, if you're reading this, I'd love it if you hit the comments to let me know, and if you have any suggestions on what you'd like to see in future posts. Until then,

Happy stitching!

Kim x

Weekly Update 1

Hello all :)

Perhaps I should of mentioned in my last blog when I talked about the app on my phone that it's more of a guide than anything. Why do I mention this now? Well, I put 'blog' on in my app to appear once a week, and within the first week of it appearing, what happened? I ended up putting it off for two days! Typical! Ah well, I'm here now...

So what's been happening this week? Well there are a few new charts to tell you about...

The first is the chart I gave to SAL members who completed the Flutterby SAL by the finishing date. I was going to leave it a bit longer, but I loved it so much, I just had to release it. So here it is...

Tribal Hummingbird

I also had a request via the facebook group for a Tribal Duck, and always, a customer's wish is my command....

Tribal Duck

I also have two more charts that were customer requests but have now been put on general sale, and they are

I am Your Parent

and...

In Words Cocktail 

I have also been working my way through some custom charts this week, and thought I would give a sneak peak at some of what never makes it onto the website. 

 

I think that's most of what I've finished this week, but I still have a to-do list as long as my arm, which is obviously great for business! It just leaves little time for anything else haha. I plan to do some dyeing on Monday and hope to sort April's limited edition fabric out. Hopefully I'll have a picture to be able to show you next week. 

I have also just launched a new round of Bingo in my Facebook group, so if you want to join in, please swing by the group and get all the details. It can be found HERE

I also want to show you a few finishes that have been done this week. 

This is Dreamcatcher - a KLT Charting chart, stitched by Jade (who also happens to be my baby sister) using Jodyri Designs threads. It's her first big finish, and I think she did great!

The chart can be found here: Dreamcatcher

Alison has also been working hard, stitching up the In Words Border Terrier chart not once, but twice with her own personalisations, and they look brilliant!

The chart can be found here: In Words Border Terrier

Well I think that's everything for this week. I hope you find reading my ramblings mildly interesting, but if there's anything you'd like to ask, or know about, feel free to hit the comments and let me know! I'd love to know how many people are out there reading what I bang on about! haha ;)

So until next week (she hopes!), 

Happy stitching!

Kim x

There's an app for that!

I have just realised something... I am RUBBISH at keeping this blog up to date! I think about it from time to time, and then something else crops up and I don't get round to a new entry... and then a week has gone by, and soon a month. Can you believe we are already in March?!? This year is simply flying by! I still have a to-do list as long as my arm, but wanted to take time out today and write. So here we are! The question is always the same though... what to write about?

I'm an incredibly disorganised person, and by that I mean if it's not on my to-do list, it doesn't get done. I found a fab app for my phone a couple of months ago which I now use for organising EVERYTHING - from the kids, to the housework, to work - if it's not on my list, it doesn't get done! So I thought, Kim, you idiot, add the blog to your app! And I have, so I hope you'll be seeing me on here a bit more regularly - if the phone tells me to do it haha.

My last blog was in January where I outlined what I wanted to get done, and I have been successful with some of that. I have been continuing to update the website, and have done a few more of the In Words Dogs. The new product however, is still a non-starter. There is a very good reason for this, but at the moment I can't tell you what it is - if I tell you the reason, you might guess the new product, and we can't be having that, can we ;) haha.

I have however, had a different new product. After examining my options, I decided to start making my own fobs and froggers rather than using a third party. With a choice of beads and charms, there is now the option to 'build your own' on the website. All the details can be found HERE.

I've also been working my socks off on custom charts. People in my facebook group may think I've not been releasing much lately, but that's just because I've been doing other things that don't get released. Trust me, I've been very busy.

I have had these releases though which I thought you might want to see:

St Patrick's Day Presley Penguin, which is March's Presley instalment. I aim to release a new one using this guy each month. I'll let you into a secret... April's Presley is already done, and I can't wait for you all to see him!

Each month KLT Charting supports a charity which is selected by a member of our Facebook group. March's charity is for Alzheimer's Disease, so have done this chart. Half of all the money made from this chart will be donated, along with the sales of any of the other KLT Charting charity charts.

I also have 2 new Tribal charts which I am longing to show you, but can't just yet. One is the Monthly Club chart, so will not go on general release until April, and the other is the chart I have given to those who completed the Flutterby SAL. Although the SAL is over, I want to wait a little while before releasing the reward chart to make it more exclusive for those who earned it.

I think that's all for now. I'll try not to leave it so long, so make sure to check back with us soon. I may even run a little blog giveaway ;)

Happy stitching!

Kim x

Goals and Targets for 2015

If you regularly follow blogs, no doubt you have seen a lot of these in the last few days. A new year often leads people to re-examine what they want the coming 12 months to hold, and I am no exception. I posted in December about how pleased I was at all I had accomplished in 2014, and to put it quite simply, I want 2015 to be even better! Here are a few of my goals:

In Words Dogs - I don't think this set will ever be complete. Yes, I can do all the dogs that the Kennel Club recognises as breeds, but then there is the American Kennel Club which has more, and then there are all the cross breeds becoming more and more popular - sprockers, labradoodles and so on. But what I would like this set to become is one of the most comprehensive collections available on the web. It goes back to my desire to give customers the charts they can't find anywhere else. So this is one of my aims - more and more In Words Dogs. Even if I only sell one of each of the rarer breeds, that's fine by me if I've made someone happy who can't find their dog anywhere else.

The New Product - Nope, I'm still not going to tell you what this is just yet, but I do plan on spending the first few months of 2015 getting it made, tested and then on the website. And of course once it's up, I will expand it and look into other designs for it. I hope to have it on the site at least in its initial form by the end of March.

Custom Charts - I have a few custom charts that I need to get sorted for people who very kindly agreed to wait until the new year. So if it looks like I'm not doing as much, I really am, it will just be things that aren't going on general release.

Hand Dyed Fabric - I counted up my fabrics today, and I believe I have 46 regular colours available. I am going to come up with a few others and stop I think, for the time being, at 50. January has seen the first limited edition colour, and I will continue to do these each month. Then again, perhaps I'll get swept away by a wave of inspiration and keep going until I hit 75. I guess this one will be a case of wait and see.

Expand Customer Base - This one is obvious really. There are only so many charts the same group of people can stitch, so if I want to grow my business, I have to keep appealing to new people. Some of the cross stitch groups on Facebook have thousands of members in them, and those are the ones I want to reach out to. The likes of 'Crazy about Cross Stitch' group has Designer Tuesday each week, and I have posted a few times, but I want to try and remember to do it more regularly, showing a wider scope of my charts. I also have Instagram and Pinterest accounts. I'm wary of Pinterest because there are so many illegal charts on there, but regularly use Instagram to show chart finishes and fabrics. I am going to try keeping it up to date with my new releases too in the hope of reaching people who are not in my Facebook group.

KLT Monthly Club - I toyed with the idea of having a fabric club as well as the normal monthly club, but for the time being want to concentrate on the lovely club members that I have. I need to think of more ideas of things I can send as the mystery item, and of course should those members want some of the fabric a little cheaper than everyone else, they have their discount code that they can use.

SALs - or Stitch A Longs. I had a customer ask me the other day if there are any SALs planned for 2015, and the answer was quite simply, no, not at the moment, but there will be. There are four weeks left of the Flutterby SAL, and I need to have something else to launch when that is finished. I'm thinking of having a few shorter SALs based on themed quartet pieces. It's a work in progress, but if you like SALs, watch this space!

Website Updates - this is something that is taking quite a high spot on the priority list. I can't spend all year sorting the site out, so want it done as soon as possible really. But with over 400 charts on the site that each need editing one by one, its a very time consuming (and boring!) process. I have something else in my personal life to do which HAS to be done in January, so I think I'll set myself a target of end of February for getting this finished.

I'm sure as the months go by, I will think of more and more things that I want to do, but for now, the general aim is to work on what I've got and make that even better. That being said, I'm not ruling new stuff out. I'm always open to ideas and if there is something in particular that you want to see, then please do get in touch.

Problem is, if I don't get off here and do some work, nothing will get done ;)
Until next time, happy stitching!

Kim xx

What a year!!

I can hardly believe 2014 is almost over! I have to keep checking the calendar because I think that can't be right! Where has the year gone? It's a little bit crazy to think that this time a year ago I was getting ready for my youngest son's first Christmas, doing the odd chart when time allowed to sell through Jodyri Designs, and worrying about what I was going to do when my maternity period was over. That all changed on 12th January! And what a year it has been! The change in my life between this year and last is incredible!

My oldest son has just completed his first term in the final year at primary school! He'll be joining the big kids in just a few months, and I'm really not sure if I'm ready for that! My daughter has just turned nine, and what a proper little madame she is becoming. It's also very scary how much of myself I see in her, and true to that, she loves messing about in the kitchen (the batch of mince pies she's just made are cooling in the kitchen as I type), and she still picks up her stitching when the mood takes her. My youngest is 19 - NINETEEN!!!!! months old now. He is absolutely loving the Christmas decorations and lights, and I can't wait to see his reaction on Christmas morning!

But all of those changes are just in my personal life. Professionally, not to blow my own horn too much, but I have never been prouder of myself. In a little over three weeks, KLT Charting will be a year old! It's crazy. It's insane. It's brilliant!! I love it! I've waited a long time to find a career path that suited me like this one does. I get to spend all my free time with my children, and when the older two are at school and the youngest is sleeping, I work my butt off doing things that I love! Then it's time for the school run, dinner time, play time, bed time... and then I work some more! Yes, just lately I have been exhausted, and most days it feels like I don't stop doing something from the minute I get up, until I finally collapse into the arm chair or turn the laptop off in the late evening, but it is all SO worth it. I did start tearing my hair out a little at stitching withdrawal, so started being a bit firmer with myself - I don't work in the evening at weekends. That's MY time, and in the last few weeks since doing that, I think I've been a lot happier. It's all about balance, and I really believe I'm getting somewhere with that.

I still very much feel like a small fish in a very big pond with regards to where I stand in the cross stitch world, but I'm not as small as I was this time last year. I was non-existent then! I am dedicated to building a good reputation for creating charts people want, and great customer care will always be at the top my priority list. And do you know how I know I'm building my reputation? Because I have the BEST customers anyone could ask for! They are loyal, kind, generous, and I see them sending others my way, and I hope they know how much I appreciate that, because I really REALLY do.

My stock has grown massively in the last year too. As someone who started off just designing charts, I listened to what people want, and combined that with a direction I wanted to go in, and now stock DMC threads, needle minders, hand dyed fabrics, stitching accessories, and more! As mentioned in a previous blog, I also have plans for a new product in 2015. No, it's not hand dyed threads (I have absolutely no intention in going down that road - I do not have the time or space to deal with that haha), but it's something I'm looking forward to getting sorted and on the website. I hope all my customers will like them as much as I do!

A few months back I was going through some orders and realised I was well into the 400s, and I set myself a mini goal of fulfilling my 500th order before KLT's first birthday. Well I did that a few days ago, and I was SO happy! 500! Five HUNDRED orders have been placed through MY website! Me! I did that! I've had the most amazing support, advice, guidance and suggestions from some very special friends, but all of that wouldn't of been worth a thing if I hadn't put in the time, money and effort. Am I tooting my own horn too much? I don't care! I'm proud of what I've done, and you know what? You won't believe how much I am looking forward to 2015 (apart from the big boy going to school in September - I'm going to hide my head in the sand over that one)! If I've achieved all of this in a year... imagine what I can do in two!

So if you've put up with my ramblings this far, thank you!
If you've been a customer in the last year, thank you!
If you're one of those who has given me advice, suggestions, help, guidance, support... THANK YOU! There are FAR too many to name them all, but I would like to say a very special thank you to Nicola, and in particular, Michelle. I don't think either of you will know how much I appreciate all you've done for me.
If you're going to be a customer in 2015, thank you! I can't wait to work with you!

But until we actually get to 2015, I'd like to wish all my customers a very Merry Christmas. May all your dreams come true, and as always, happy stitching!

Kim
xxx

Where I've been, and where I'm going

Did I, or did I not say when I started this blog that I know what I'm like, and you'd probably go weeks without hearing from me? I didn't mean to, it's just that life has a habit of getting in the way!

I still intend to finish answering the questions that were put to me, but right now, it's 7:22am, I'm still lying in bed, about to get up, and just wanted to check in and say hi. Things have been so busy lately! I managed to get behind with my custom charts so have been trying to catch up there, and then had the genius idea to begin production on not 1, but 2 new products!

Product number 1 is hand dyed fabric, and there are 10 colours on the website already, with lots more to follow. 

Product number 2 is being kept under wraps until it can be properly made and product tested. Safe to say, I'm very excited!!

Changes in EU VAT legislation in January means that there will be changes in how I distribute my charts, so these new additions to my stocks have come at the perfect time, I can't wait!

Anyway, now that's been said, I really should get up and get my kids to school. There's more dyeing to be done!

Until next time (which hopefully won't be so long), happy stitching!

Kim xx