an update & questions to you

Here's a general life update. First, I'm sorry I took an involuntary break from blogging. I've had a few technical problems which I finally resolved yesterday by erasing the entire hard drive of my laptop and installing a new operating system. Though I spent too many hours trying to figure out all that computer geek language, there's also a positive side to it: I'm now owner of an incredibly fast and perfectly organized laptop!
I must admit that my laptop used to be a big data mess - my download folder hold more than 2.5k files ( probably half of that knitting patterns that I'm never gonna use) at one point. Ugh. But I've figured out a system to keep everything neat and organized on my newly installed laptop. I'll share my laptop organizing skills in a couple of weeks - if I can manage to stay on top of all the downloads, files and photos.

Also, I used the start of the semester (thus a rather small workload) to declutter my closet and my food supplies. I'm challenging myself to only eat homemade sweets till the end of the year. Which, basically, means lots of baking over the next two months. I made oatmeal cookies to substitute for the pound of candy and store-bought cookies I got rid off last week. They turned out pretty good especially considering it only takes 5 minutes to prepare the dough & cookies and another 10 minutes to bake them. You can expect more recipe posts over the next couple of months :) So feel free to join my in my store-bought candy/cookie/cake free end of the year challenge.

I've also updated my dawanda shop with a couple more drawstring project bags. I'm currently looking into etsy/dawanda alternatives since I'm not a fan of paying 10% commission fee on every single item I made. I'm currently considering big cartel and tictail. If you have any other recommendations or would like to share your experience with one them I'd love to hear them!

Last but not least, I'd love to know what posts you like particularly or if there's anything you'd like me to blog about. I'm currently collecting blog post ideas for the next months. It seems like I have way too many ideas (I might get a little too enthusiastic whenever Christmas approaches...) so I'd love to hear what you'd like to read / see.

So that's it, I'm gonna spend the evening on the couch reading Harry Potter (I'm 2/3 into the 6th book and I'm having a hard time to put the book down in the evening.). I have a nasty cut on my finger (I might be good at baking but I'm not a talented cook...) so I'm taking a break from knitting for a couple of days. Or did anyone figure out a way to knit with a band-aid on? The yarn always seems to stick to mine :(

ps: I updated the header to somewhat freshen up the blog a little. If you're reading this using a reader you might want to click here and have a look at it.

craft fair sign

My mom Patricia made the most awesome craft fair sign for my small business. I wanted something bright and airy yet eye catching and unique. I'm not a fan of vinyl signs or anything with a hard structure. If you're selling textile accessories for knitters it's a logical consequence to have a textile sign, too - right?

My mom started off with a light fray piece of fabric. I think it was a curtain in an earlier life. Next I printed out all the letters necessary on a sheet of papers. I mirrored the letters in Word and printed them on normal office paper so they could be used as patterns.

Next my mom traced the letters onto vliesofix and ironed them onto a collection of 14 different green fabrics - the green one with the tiny sheep is my favorite. After ironing the letters to the background fabric she quilted it on her longarm machine.

Obviously my mom is a true artist and watching her turn a boring, old curtain into a piece of art is amazing. I just love how the letters pop out. My mom recently started a longarm quilting service - so drop her a mail (p.bussemeier AT gmx DOT com) if you'd like her to quilt something for you.

There are several rod pockets and sleeves on the back to hang the quilt. I couldn't be happier about the sign and I'm gonna hang it above my coach when it's not used as a craft fair sign.

upcoming craft fairs

I'm gonna be at three craft fairs within the next two weeks to (hopefully) get to know lots of new knitting friends and convince some more people that knitting can be stylish and fun and is certainly not a hobby for people 80+.

If you're a local I'd love to see you! Say hi if you get a chance to come to any of the craft fairs. Here are the details:

Martinsmarkt in der Freien Waldorfschule Göttingen
Samstag, den 23.11.2013 von 11-17h
Arbecksweg 1, 37077 Göttingen

Adventsmarkt in der Wilhelm-Busch-Mühle in Ebergötzen
Freitag, den 29.11.2013 ab 17h
Mühlengasse 8, 37136 Ebergötzen

Adventsmarkt in den Göttinger Werkstätten
Samstag, den 30.11.2013 von 11-16h
Elliehäuser Weg 20, 37079 Göttingen

Hope to see you there!

and then there was a shop.

I'm excited to announce that after years of dreaming and thinking and over-thinking, I finally took the plunge and started a business!
My etsy shop is filled with cute accessories for knitters and crafters. I'll add a variety of bag sizes within the next couple of weeks and I have many more products planned to add to the shop in autumn.

You wouldn't believe how much joy these two custom stamps give me. After years of doodling during class it feels rad to see my design on a stamp. I may or may not have used the stamp to add cute sheep to most of my financing notes. Whoops.

The shop is available in two languages - German and English. I ship internationally and I offer custom orders at reasonable prices. If you have any questions, please email me at marie [at] froggeddesigns.com.

Last but not least, here's a little something for my dear blog readers:

around here

It's been an awesome week. My custom rubber stamps from simon's stamps came in the mail today and I'm in love!! There are only some minor German bureaucratic things I have to figure out before I can open my shop. I'll talk more about it in a separate post next week.
I finally got a proper solution for my broken Expedit desk. I love the shelf + desk combo but after the desk's leg broke off due to some minor kitty incident I temporarily added some desk legs my dad bought a while ago. It worked out okay but it didn't look very good and it wasn't very practical either. I finally decided to buy the Alex drawer unit. I love all the extra storage it adds to my sewing table and Lina loves sleeping on it :)

My seedlings are doing great and the first batch of zucchini plants is already planted in my parents' garden. I can't wait to harvest the first zucchinis in a month or so!!
Remember how I promised I'd try to take a picture of the cinnamon pull apart I made for our knitting club meeting last week? Well it's only a quick instagram snapshot but looking at it makes me wanna make another one. Anything with cinnamon never seem to survive more than a day around here.