Friday is my day: JaneBoFelt

Hello and good Friday to all! Today we will fly to Moscow, Russia and meet Jane from JaneBoFelt. She makes very beautiful felted accessories; scarves, brooches, necklaces, hats...I think you should visit her shop after this flight :)

(click any photo to go to the shop)

Felted flower brooch pin Orange brown yellow
by JaneBoFelt

Hello! My name is Jane. I live in Moscow, Russia. Two years ago I discovered felting technique and now I’m making felted accessories and cloths. And since January I start to sell my items on Etsy.
I’m mother of 2years 9months old son and my days are almost the same but I really like this.
Usually I wake up at 7-00. It takes me 15 minute to go to shower and then I go to wake my son up. He is so sweet when sleeping. But we have to bring him to kindergarden till 8-30... He wake up quickly and go to say “morning” to his toys –

Today hubby bring my son to kindergarden and I stay at home alone and have breakfast. It’s big cup of green tea, bread with cheese and youghurt. Today I add big almond cake).

It’s not good but usually I eat breakfast in front of computer – checking Etsy, mails, news.
And then I’m ready to do some work. Yesterday I felted hat and now I take photo to send it to customer. Here, near light wall I make most of my photos (when I can not make it outside).

Ok, done, picture was sent to customer, hope she likes it. And it’s not all, she ordered the scarf as well! Summer here is not long (2.5-3 months) so people prepare for winter, I think:).We (me, hubby, our son) are living on the 14th floor of big house. Our flat is not big, so I make my felted projects on big table in the kitchen, it’s my workplace –

It takes time to do the scarf, time is passing and at 14 o’clock I’m hungry and prepare dinner for myself - some simple – “grechka” - buckwheat (I found this word in vocabulary, I heard that this “kasha” is popular only in Russia, it may be grown only in cold climate, it’s very healthy), cheese again ( I love it!), tomato and greens.

And you see, I’m again eating near computer... I’m checking mail, Etsy, my Russian shop, blog, Flickr, etc.After dinner I need to rest from felting the scarf . Look at my new projects – some felted and crocheted jewerly –

I usually have several project in progress – begin something new when I have got the idea and don’t finish previousJ. I must be more organized).Today I have not to go to PO (it’s bad) and to buy food (it’s well) so I’m working at home till 16-00. Before going out I look at the room, almost all is in order besides too many toys –

And I go to pick my son from kindergarden. The weather is fine and after this we go for a walk. There is big park (we call it ”small forest”) not far from our house

After short walking we go by metro (it’s near our house too) three station and we are on the outskirts of Moscow. My son by bike and I running after him by foot, we reach the place where we are hope to live soon, this will be our future house –

I hope in this house I’ll have my own studil for felting. Today hubby has spare day and he’s working there (now he’s going to make roof). And this is our “banya”- Russian sauna –

At 20-00 we come back home, having supper all together and then I go to put my son to bed. At 22-00 he is sweetly sleeping and we have calm time. This is the view from our window –

I want to edit some pictures before going to bed

At 23-30 my eyes are close and I go to bed. Friday is over. It’ll be Saturday today, we have not to go to kindergarden, job and we’ll rest all the day.

Friday is my day: LaTouchables

Today we will travel to sunny Germany and meet bag&pouch maker Dawn from LaTouchables. She makes very pretty and colorful bags you can't find anywhere else. And why is that everybody else has a cute cat or doggie except me?

(click any photo to go to the shop)

Free-Falling, large elegant bag with adjustable strap
by LaTouchables

Hi, my name is Dawn, and I live in the provences in one of the most beautiful regions of Southern Germany, the Rhine Valley, between the Palatine (close to Alsace, France) and Kraichgau (rolling hills to the east). This region is famous for it’s Rieslings and white asparagus.

Okay, in my life no two days are the same, so I take a bit of each day to be ‘my day’.

During the week, I get up at 6:00, an ungodly hour, and prepare my coffee and breakfast to have at the computer while my husband has ‘five more minutes’ of sleep.


Then I get ready for work. Three or four mornings a week, I travel to the city to teach English to some companies.


Meeting with students allows me to retain my social skills. Without the possibility of routinely correcting people’s grammar, I might be a bit odd.

I usually get home in time to inhale a late lunch, today a salad and bread.

Around now, my cat wakes up and talks to me, soaking up a little sun.

This is my sofa, a very enchanting place.

This is where I do most of my photo-shoots, next to the garden house.

My mom asked me if people might think I’m a bit odd modeling my bag with the cow’s skull. Hmmm…maybe she is right…it might be a whole lot easier to sell the cow’s skull without the bag.

Today, my niece is coming over, and we begin our photo-shoot in Great-Great Oma’s sitting room with the original wallpaper of a couple of lifetimes ago. First we pose next to the window, but not before we’ve removed all the ancestors from the wall.

Then I say, ‘Hey Sweety, put this doily on your head.’ Point and shoot. She is so delightful to work with, but very busy and hard to catch!

The last couple of weeks I’ve been renovating my studio, and this is during…

…and this is today…

…where I have a dozen different things going on, so I’ll work until my husband comes home…

I love warm dinners, so tonight we’re having Moroccan meatballs, fried potatoes, German style, green beans, and a radish salad.

After another visit to the computer, I fall into bed at around 11 pm.

As I said, each day is different, but the two constants are plenty of coffee and my cat. And my husband, of course, who more closely resembles Daniel Craig!

Friday is my day: Vadjutka

Jeeee! I am excited! Today we will travel to Budapest, Hungary the city I have always wanted to visit. And our guide today is Judit from vadjutka.etsy.com who makes very creative and beautiful jewelries with very pretty photos.

C'oon, let's go already :)

Smoothie - necklace with poppy flower and glass beads in

yellow, orange, pink and baby blue colors on chain
by vadjutka

Hey All,
It is me, Judit Wild. I live in Budapest, capital of Hungary. Budapest has two sides Buda and Pest: they are devided by our river, the Danube. I live on the Buda side, which is considerd the "posh" part of our city :-).

I live in my small - 32 square meters - flat; on 15th May it will be exactly 3 years since I moved in. I have a part time job: media analyst for the Public Service Radio (state radio), besides that I have a little ongoing research project at another workplace.

These photos are about my Thursday, which is usually "my day" or better say "jewelry-making Thursday", but on Wednesday my boss told me to come to a very important meeting on "my day". So here we go...

7.30Alarm (my mobile) rings. Back to sleep.

8.00Good morning! After half an hour of struggling I get up, try to open my eyes, wash my teeth and have a shower.

8.30After dressing up I make my cappucino and sandwich. I cannot imagine my mornings without my cappucino - I am very good in this! Checking e-mails, my etsy shop and a little chat with my friends in the EST forum.

9.30Hurryyyyy! I am late! I have so many things to do today, I have to run!

9.45Pfffff, it is raining! Lousy, lousy weather! While waiting for the tram at the station, I look for my umbrella in my bag.

10.25Arriving to the not-so-posh part of Buda, where I will get my boxes for my jewelry! I ordered some boxes a month ago, and now they are ready. This part of Budapest is not among my favourites: it is full of block houses, built in the 70s. On the photo you see the ruins from the era of the Roman Empire surrounded by block houses.

10.45YAY, my boxes are here...and it is cheaper this way, than my previous boxes.

11.00On the way back, a quick glimpse at my former elementary school. (On the photo it is under the white curtain.) It was a school for 200 years - my father, and his father attended this school as well -, but now it is going to be an office. I am sad about it, but it is better for the building to use it as an office, than to remain empty like it was in the last few years.

11.10A quick walk on Margaret Bridge: to show you the Danube and the building of the Parliament. We are heading from Buda to Pest now. And still raining....

11.15 I am hungry! I am having an early lunch: a schwarma at a Turkish restaurant. Budapest is packed with these types of restaurants. And this particular one is the best in town!

12.00Arriving to my workplace, the State Radio. OK, let's jump into that very important meeting!

17.00 After work I visit the tailor (he is a cute guy): yesterday I bought a pair of jeans on a sale, but it is long a bit.

17.15 YAY! My freebies are done: meeting with the freebie-maker guy. I decided to give freebies with my jewelry a year ago :-), but I did not have any idea....untill last month. It is still a surprise, though I can tell you, that it has to do something with my travel-photos.

17.30 I am hungry again! On the way to the tram I have a croissant and a hot chocolate.

17.45 Travelling and travelling on the - almost - new tram. This tram takes me back to Buda, where I have to go in a shopping mall...brrrr.

18.00I want to buy new ribbons for my new boxes....I cant choose. In the end I buy a big pack of pink raffia.

18.30 After running throughout the whole day I relax a bit in a bookstore while purchasing a map for future hikings.

20.00 Finally Ohmmmmmmmm! I arrive to my yoga class: this is Reka, my friend and yoga teacher...and she is going to have a baby in the autumn!!

22.30Arriving home....relaxed, but exhausted. I have a miso soup for dinner, and a toast with corn and blue cheese....and then.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Thanks Heli for the invitation: it was so much fun! xxx

Friday is my day: Tortillagirl

Today we will travel to France and meet Becky from tortillagirl. She is a fashion designer who creates really beautiful clothing and bags. Beside that she is talented knitter too (she has another shop for knitting goods friedinbutter). Take your coffee and sit comfortably, let's go to Becky!

Pont Neuf Painter Dress Size M
by tortillagirl

Yay! Thank you for inviting me to share my Friday with you.

Good morning from Lyon! It's about 7 a.m., and I'm a quick get-upper. Once I wake up, I climb out of bed and run like my life depends on it walk casually to the coffee machine to prepare the morning pot of coffee. This will be the only cup of coffee I'll have today, so let's have it bright and early.

I open the blinds in the front room to see what kind of weather we're having. I can see the whole city and beyond from my wee apartment (free fireworks shows every national holiday! ;-)), and I can always tell right off how the day will be.


Ah. It's going to be a nice day today.

Now it's time to wake up my Captain Destructo. Unlike me and Mr Le Hubby, he is Mr. Groggy McGrumpypants in the morning and needs a good 20 mins to wake up.

Will you look at that? It seems that we didn't shut his bedroom door properly last night. The family fluffball, also known as my son's dog "Leeloo", has snuck in and stolen a good night's sleep on his bean bag. Little sneak.


Mornings go quickly: By 8:15 Mr Le Hubby and Captain Destructo are out the door and the dog has been taken out. Some days I head out with them but today I'm working from home so I get to take my time.

Up next: Shower and then turn on the 'puter to answer emails, update sites and other miscellaneous things that need to be done online. I get all of this done by 9:00 or 9:30, then I sit down and have a little brekkie.


No two weekdays are ever alike in terms of work. I do something different each day of the week. Today I'm going to be cutting and preparing fabric for multiple orders and then I'll be drafting patterns for dresses I've sketched out. The sewing machine won't get any attention today, poor dear.


This is how my work place looks after I've cut out several orders and prepared them for sewing. Ah! Clean Freak Confession: I always do another quick vacuum round after I've cut and interfaced. Seeing threads on the floor makes me twitchy.


Next up, lunch! As my son says: Miam, miam. Just like I never skip brekkie, I never skip lunch. If I'm eating alone it's always something I can make quickly and with minimal fuss, like this cold green bean salad with tuna, tomatos and olives.


After lunch it's back to the ole drawing board, literally. Pattern making time. I pull out two of my bodice blocks (which I've drawn up with indelible marker on rhodoid) and get to work on flat drafting. I usually do this on the big table in the front room or on the floor, depending on how big the pattern construction will be. If the design is complicated, like a tailored jacket with lining or fitted shirt with different elements, I cut and sew a prototype in muslin afterwards and that could take a while. Doing this means I may not get as much sewing time and have to invest more work, but that's what handmade is about. Plus, making a sketch come alive with my OWN pattern is still fun even if it eats into my sewing time.


Today I'll be making a post office run, so after I've drafted some patterns I clear up my work space and prepare packages for shipment.

Mr Le Hubby works about ten minutes from home so he's home early every day. Friday in particular, and today he's coming home at 4:30 so we can pick up the boy from school and then head off for some errands in La Croix Rousse, which is the old silk district in Lyon a stone's throw from my home. Lots of my local favorites are here: hairstylist, notions shop, patisserie, etc. and we come here every Sunday for the outdoor market.




This afternoon we've got a lot to do before the weekend so we're taking the car. Mr Le Hubby is driving which leaves me free to look out the window.


...and snap a shot!


After our errands we head back home where - get ready for this - I find out that Mr Le Hubby has gifted me with a new city bike. Oh, happy day! Just in time for the weekend, when we'll be having gorgeous weather.


Here I am trying it out in a "race" with my son, and I am so excited I didn't even bother to take the bike booklet off the handlebar. Hee hee!


We're spending a quiet Friday evening at home. Just us, a dvd and a bottle of bubbly Saumur Brut.


Captain Destructo gets to hang with us by staying up a little later than usual and the dog is looking for a cuddle, as always.

Have a great evening from Lyon!