Thursday, May 7, 2009

Friday is my day: Tortillagirl

Jaa
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!





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.
morningview

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.
sleepingcaptain

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.
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.
workplace today

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.
lunchie

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. bodiceblocks


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.
packaging

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.
while running errands
snapped while running errands
runningerrands3

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.
runningerrands

...and snap a shot!
runningerrands2

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.
bike

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!
aperitif

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

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.eveningview

Have a great evening from Lyon!


14 comments:

  1. Thank you so much! It is so exciting to get to know the life of other crafters at least a little bit. Kind regards to Tortillagirl!

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  2. These days are so very fun to read!

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  3. what a fun interesting read .. Captain Destructo is soooo cute :D Fantastic read and great to know more about tortillagirl!!

    Thanks Heli and Becky :-)

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  4. This was so nice to read and the pictures were great to see too. Her work is amazing, just lovely!

    Happy weekend to both of you:)

    -minna

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  5. Becky, this was completely delightful and enchanting to read. I think I want to go read it again and look at all your fabulous photos. What a charming idea for a blog post!

    xo

    P.S. I'm so jealous that your boy's school day lasts until 4:30... :)

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  6. how fun to read about becky - she is such a sweet person and i really enjoyed reading more about her!

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  7. Thank you so much for inviting me to share my Friday with you and for all the kind comments! I'm happy to show you this little slice of my life. Later on I'll be adding more photos I had taken for Heli in my flickr "Friday is my Day" set:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnyrabbit/sets/72157617765485723/ :-)

    P.S. As I look at my photos again I realize that we can just barely see my little collection of Heli's mini books! They are in the workplace photo on the top of my storage unit, sitting in front of the light box Mr Le Hubby handmade for me. Cool coincidence, huh?

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  8. Another wonderful Friday! I had no idea Lyon is so beautiful...all I ever saw of it is the motorway :/ Thanks for sharing Tortillagirl!

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  9. great reading!what a super cute little dog :) Lyon seems like a beautiful town!

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  10. Nice to meet you and your world Becky!

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  11. I loved loved love reading about Tortilla's day :)

    nanouke

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  12. I love to read your "Friday is my day" posts!

    Thanks for sharing, Heli and Becky!

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  13. Great writeup about one of my favorite Etsy sellers! Becky - thanks for the little snapshot of your life and charming family. Heli - you've got a great blog and I'm glad I found it!
    ~Lola

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