What I would do:
Create a small window with a progress bar and a label. Let this show your status. Now each time an item finishes with an update (or whatever you're doing), update the label with "X items out of Total have completed" and update the progressbar so it'll fill up just that extra bit.
Pseudo code:
Integer total = ItemsToProgress.Count();
Integer done = 0;
ProgressWindow progWin = new ProgressWindwos();
progWin.Label1.Text = done & " items out of " & total & " completed";
progWin.Bar.Completed = done / total;
progWin.Show();
foreach (item in ItemsToProgress) {
ProcessItemFunction(item);
done++;
progWin.Label1.Text = done & " items out of " & total & " completed";
progWin.Bar.Completed = done / total;
}
progWin.Close();
progWin.Dispose();