An Interview with Curious and Catcat

Today, you can read my first real interview about myself and my work on the DaWanda Blog. It's actually been published on Monday, but since I spent Monday in a bus on our way back from Amsterdam and Tuesday sleeping (I failed miserably in combining those two things) I didn't get to write this sooner. The interview is in German but if you happen to speak German or bring on the Google translator you can read about myself and my shop, my tips for starting a small business and how to get/stay inspired and why Physics and embroidery go pretty well together. Check it out, it's fun!

It's been over a year since I started selling cross stitch portraits over at DaWanda. It's been quite a journey and I've been creating unique portraits for many lovely people, couples, families, friends. I've been blessed with a lot of positive resonance and more orders than my sleep schedule permits. I never had to think about ways to draw attention to my work - it happened all by itself. My cross stitch portraits have been featured in magazines, websites and in a TV spot.  I love what I do (including being able to work and watch TV at the same time) and seeing my work noticed and appreciated by so many people is more than I ever dreamed of. So a big thank you to all of you! I feel spoiled.

Busy Bee

It seems about time that I show you some of my cross stitch projects for my DaWanda Shop. Recently, there have been more requests for custom cross stitch portraits than during Christmas season, or at least it feels that way. In other words: I’m extremely busy to keep up with the incoming orders! Don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy my little business works out so well. It’s not enough to pay the rent, at least not yet, but I really love what I do and that’s worth something! Nice side effect: Cross stitching is immensely relaxing and while I’m at it I can let my mind wander or listen to the Harry Potter audio books for the 17425^th time (Yep, still not over Harry Potter.) or watch every TV series there is (works only for series that don’t need too much looking). It’s work and fun at the same time! Jackpot!

The pictures show two of my most recent projects, my collection of embroidery threads (You can see I’m still not through with the skein-to-bobbin-transfer-situation), and me working on a cross stitch portrait.

I hope you have a happy busy week so we can have a happy busy week together!

Stitching with Curious and Catcat

I held my first workshop last Thursday and it has been a fantastic and slightly frightening experience! Frightening, because God knows I hate to speak in front of people and worse - in front of people I don't know! Think of talks, presentations, oral exams. So when Lu from DaWanda asked me if I wanted to do a workshop and show people the cross stitching basics I thought "Ooooh  no..." - And said yes. Because it's okay to be nervous and you don't want to miss out on an opportunity like that, am I right?
After a few weeks of supply orders, preparations and printer problems, the day of the workshop drew nearer and I started to feel a bit anxious. What do those people expect from me? Will they understand what I am trying to teach them? Are the stitching patterns I printed out too boring? I decided to do a test run and try to teach the cross stitching basics to someone who doesn't know the first thing about stitching and permanently mixes it with "sewing" or "knitting" or "crochet" - my boyfriend. That seemed to go fairly well! After a while the boyfriend stepstitched his own signature (and seemed to have quite some fun doing it, too!) and I packed everything up and went to do the real workshop, feeling a lot more relaxed about it.

Good thing that the whole frightening part happened only in my head, because everyone in the DaWanda Snuggery was so nice that I even forgot to be nervous and we all had a great time stitching cute little designs onto even cuter embroidery hoops. Some serious creativeness was going on there! Some people designed their own patterns, some used the ones I had printed out, but all results looked great! In the end, everyone could take their own little masterpiece home. A perfect night for a first workshop, I guess. I'll call that a success :)

Christmas with DaWanda

DaWanda - Products with Love

It's the season of crazy Christmas shopping. I thought I had only a cute little shop over at Dawanda.com, but man - I don't even get enough sleep these days. I'm stitching and stitching all day. That's also why it's been quiet around here for a while. I just couldn't find the time. Christmas is crazy. I hope you find some time to lit some candles, put on some relaxing music and read a book, or bake some cookies or spend time with your loved ones. Enjoy the Christmas season!

Life is crazy

Life is crazy, it is. It's the last week before the next semester at university starts and I am in the middle of a hundred projects at once, old and new. I'm working on my Dawanda shop to make it a place that feels like me, optimizing products and I'm even making a leaflet to add to every order. I've never made a leaflet before (And why whould I have?) but it's fun! I've even set up a mini photo studio on my desk. Yes, I used gift wrap from IKEA. Don't laugh, it worked just fine.
So I'm stitching a lot, because if you already checked out my shop you know it's about cross stitching and stuff.

I also digged out my old granny squares! I'm working on a blanket here, guys! I started crocheting granny squares about a year ago and it even was one of my first posts here on Curious and Catcat! It's the best thing to dim the light in the evening, light some (read: many many) candles, turn on some classical piano music and just sit there, crochet, relax... it's kind of meditative and I love it!

What else is in the pictures? Ah yes: homemade pizza! I recently happened to discover my love to bake things. Pizza, calzone, cake, and we haven't bought bread for a month! After our WWOOFing trip we found that we wanted to really eat healthy and with healthy I don't mean that we buy a lot of salad or vegetables because everyone knows vegetables are healthy. I mean that we are trying to cook fresh and from scratch without using canned stuff or all those powders and instant products. We're also experimenting with new and healthier because not overbred grains.
Maybe this is just a phase, but It feels right at the moment and there's just nothing better than eating a pizza or apple purree or bread you made from scratch. I think you can taste the love you put into it haha. No. Really.

Have a great week y'all!

Newsflash: Curious and Catcat is selling stuff! Finally!

Hey guys! I had my last exam today! Semester break, here I come (and time to go cold turkey on coffee)! I have a LOT of news I want to share, but one at a time.... one at a time.
Number one is something you might have discovered if you are frequently hit the "shop" button above just to see if there's finally something to see - because now there is! To be exact I stocked up the shop the week before the exams and didn't find the time to tell you. Sooo... now click on that button and check out my new shop! And if you're "not in the mood" right now and because I really want you to have a look - I prepared a little something below!

So at the moment I'm only selling cross stitch patterns and pixel art, some of it ready to sell, some of it individually designed. My favorite items are the personalized cross stitch portraits. It's so much fun! The picture in the bottom left corner (and at the very top of this post) is a portrait I made of me and my two brothers. I love it so much! It's just so us. I have to smile every time I look at it.
I'm planning to stock up the shop now that I don't have to study 24/7, maybe add some sewn goods in the future, too. Up to now the shop is exclusively in German, but I'm planning on translating it to English, soon. And now: Click here!