Friday, December 17, 2010

Friday is my day: Morrgan

Jaa
Hello again Friday peeps. This is the last Friday post on year 2010 and also my last post, I'm going to have a long break. we are having a baby in the beginning of March (I hope she comes in time). I'll be back probably in summer. But no worries, Maria our todays Friday guest is going to continue to collect Friday is my day posts. She has a shop called Morrgan.etsy.com She knits the most funny and cute animal creations and knitted accessories to warm your hands, feets and head. Enjoy your trip to Finland and Happy holidays! ★

Hello everyone! I'm Maria, also known as Morrgan in many parts of the
internet, and I like to knit all sorts of things. I hope you'll enjoy
sharing a day with me.

7.30: The first alarm goes off and Mr. Morrgan (my husband) wakes up. I
don't. I'm too busy dreaming about driving around in giant super robots
disguised as cars, à la Transformers.

8.00: The second alarm goes off, finally waking up the Morning Monster
Morrgan. Rawr. I'll spare you from seeing photos - the Morning Monster
me might give you nightmares.

8.05: Fortunately Mr. Morrgan is wise and shows up with a huge cup of
coffee to placate the Morning Monster. Ahhhhhhh. What would I do without
this man. Mr. Morrgan gets ready for work while I have my coffee and
focus on trying to keep my eyes open.

8.30: Mr. Morrgan is off to work and I reluctantly get out of bed to
shower, feed the fish and shrimp of 3 fish tanks, and make breakfast for
myself. The fishies seem to be quicker to wake up than I am, judging by
their feeding frenzy.

8.50: I have toast with cheddar while catching up on the internet:
emails, my Etsy and other shops, the European Street Team forums, a few
blogs, job ads... (I'm a biologist and my last "day job" project ended
some months ago. I'm looking at jobs and trying to figure out what to do
next.)

11.00: Right, that's enough computer time for now! There's only a few
hours of light per day this time of year, better make the most of it. I
pack a few orders that need to be taken to the post office. A bit of
music makes this task more fun - today I listen (and dance) to Jamie
Cullum's jazzy tunes.

11.30: Looks like it snowed a lot this morning! Once again I'm happy we
don't need a car - wouldn't want to dig it out from under all that snow.
The post office is a 10 min walk away and the queue isn't too long, so
soon I have everything shipped.

11.50: I continue my walk and go across the river. The river boats are
actually popular restaurants and bars. Some are open for business in
wintertime too.

The Turku Cathedral. I couldn't resist taking a photo to show you, it
looked so pretty in the snow and against the blue sky. My walk
continues, not too far now from my goal...

12.15: Lunch time! Mr. Morrgan and I try to meet up for lunch once a
week. It gives me an excuse to take a longer walk and get some exercise,
as his work place is about 3 km from home. After all, there's no better
reward for a bit of exercise than a delicious lunch! In this case,
Chinese food.

13.30: Home again and in the mood for knitting! In summer I often sit in
the balcony and knit, but in winter this is one of my fave places to
work: beside my pride and joy, the biggest aquarium that's almost as
long as I am. It's nice to have a green landscape and pretty fishies to
look at when the outdoors is covered in snow.

14.30: Yep, everything seems to be under control here! My brother comes
by to use the ironing board for a bit, in order to look good at a
Christmas party this evening. I think he uses that thing more than I do.
Once the shirt has been sorted out, we chat over a cup of tea and make
plans to go see the Rare Exports movie next week. (A creepy Finnish
Christmas tale with dark humor? Clearly a must-see for us!)

16.00: Time to go out and meet Mr. Morrgan for grocery shopping. It's a
pretty day, so we take the scenic route. This Christmas tree is in front
of the Turku Art Museum. Check out the decorations, they're vinyl records!

16.10: Uh oh. The scenic route takes us past an Apple store and Mr.
Morrgan stops to gaze wistfully upon all the goodies inside. This might
take a while. In the end I lure him away with the promise of pie.

16.50: After shopping, we walk home past a hairdresser that always has
something fun going on in the window. Gotta love that plush dog Santa in
a pink cowboy hat!

17.30: As promised, there's pie! With whipped cream! I baked a pumpkin
pie yesterday for dessert and there's some left over. Since we're still
pretty full from the big lunch, we skip dinner and go straight for the pie.

17.45: This is a suitable time for me to check what's been happening on
the internet and knit some monster scarves. Mr. Morrgan does some
programming on his shiny Macbook, working on his pet project called
Boxer. I guess programming all day at work just isn't enough!

20.30: At this point in an evening we often play a game or watch a DVD,
but tonight it's time to bring out the fancy high-heeled boots! (And the
not-so-fancy bag, ahem.) We're off for a drink or two at our local fave
pub. They have a nice selection of delicious beers, hopefully we can
find something new to try. Maybe we'll see some friends too!

Enjoy the rest of your Friday and happy weekend!

Friday, December 10, 2010

Friday is my day: Lesthings

Jaa
Today to sunny Madrid, Spain and meet Virginia from lesthings.etsy.com
She makes so pretty and beautiful jewellery!
Enjoy browsing the shop :)


silvercube earrings-almond tree

8.30 in the morning,I wake up.I don't use an alarm clock unless I have to wake up early.
First thing in the morning ,breakfast: fresh orange juice,hot cocoa(I don't have coffee or tea) and some toasts.

A quick shower and directly to the computer and etsy.The first thing I always check are my etsy shops.Sending and reading
convos,treasuries,forums and flickr,today I woke up with three sales!

Some assembling work,today I have to continue with the pieces I prepared yesterday,it's a bit long proccess that must be
done in different steps.

A short break ,I almost always eat something before lunch; today an apple.

Preparing the orders I have to send today...

I forgot to say that I walk through the corridor all day!my workshop and the computer are just on the opposite ends of my house
and I can't resist checking the web now and then...

Today I don't have to much time for lunch.I 'llhave something quick;a tuna sandwich while watching one of my fav series of all time
on tv, Bewitched.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to do everything simply with a nose twitch?

Going to the post office.Although there's one nearer my house,sometimes I prefer going for a walk to the beautiful building
of the Central Post Office in Madrid.It's a beautiful walk !El Prado Museum is on the right.

Back home.This afternoon I have to prepare some new pieces in my workshop I'll try to finish everything I planned for this week
although I'm not sure I'll do...I enjoy hearing the news on the radio while working.

I'm finishing earlier than usual today,tonight I'm going out to a rock concert.It's going to take place in an old fashioned club inside a park.
I put on my favorite boots ,my retro black dress and don't forget the tickets of course!

A perfect way to finish a friday,have a nice weekend!

Friday, December 3, 2010

Friday is my day: Spacejam

Jaa
Yum yum! Look at these goodies! Today we will travel to Germany and meet Alexandra from spacejam.etsy.com
She has a shop full of yummy and colorful vintage stuff!
Have a happy Friday all!

Vintage 1950s Gossen Sixtomat light meter made in Germany

My regular Saturday (I chose Saturday, because this is my favorite day) starts usually between 6 and 8. I live by myself, so the alarm clock is the only help in waking me up. This little monster produces so much noise that I jump up immediately
I am a tea drinker and a breakfast eater..it is very important for me to start my day with a proper meal. I eat way more for breakfast than during other snacks or meals.
After breakfast is my e-mail checking, email answering and email writing time..Also it creates a structure for the day, because then I know what I need or need not to do today and can plan my time. I love sitting at my desk, drinking tea and scrolling through photos, emails and blogs.

If there were any orders overnight I am packing them and run to the PO (preferably before 12, because afterwards the line is unbearable..and what is more important it closes on saturday really early). I really enjoy my way to the PO, cause i pass by gorgeous buildings...but waiting in line is killing me)
Saturday is one of my favorite days! Saturday is a flea market day! My best friend is coming over and we choose where to go to get the new stock for the shop...of course by now there are favorite markets.. Sometimes we even do weekend trips to other cities for diversity=)

Than starts the not so favorite part, which has to be done..washing and cleaning all the new items for the shop, taking photos and editing them. This takes forever, but it goes way faster if i get help=)

saturday evening is either going out or movie day, so after all the work is done I call my friends and do something together with them. I say at this point the work is done and the fun is ahead.

i spend half of my day in my working room, so it is important to be surrounded by things you like.

I hope I complied with the task). Of course all the days are not really the same, but this is what my typical Saturday looks like. I also didn't mention that some days I can be found in my favorite chair with a cup of tea crocheting all day long )

Friday, November 26, 2010

Friday is my day: ?

Jaa
Sorry, no Friday post today. We were supposed to travel to sweden today but the one who we were supposed to visit didn't send us what she promised, no pictures, no post...so next Friday I hope we have better luck :)

Friday, November 19, 2010

Friday is my day: Garbagebag

Jaa
Today we will head up north to Finland and meet Anne from garbagebag.etsy.com
She creates bags made of old jackets and recycled fabrics and materials.
Enjoy your day!


NOT garbagebag -shoppingbag 5

Usually I spend my weekdays working for a bookstore about from nine to five, but this is a special Friday when I don’t go there and have more time to do other things I like.
Breakfast with a good book and a tall dark stranger (Actually it’s my friend Marco, but I call him The Stranger ‘cos I don’t see him that often Iloiset kasvot)
Sewing the final decorations to the Catadores 2 –shoulderbag, which is the next item I’m going to list to my Etsy shop called Garbagebag. Name of the shop is that ‘cos I make bags out of garbage Iloiset kasvot Well, not really. I use recycled materials and leftovers.
Photographing my items is the most difficult part of running my Etsy-shop ‘cos I’m a terrible photographer really. And because I live in Finland I always have the problem of not having enough light. I try to use all kinds of lamps but obviously they are never as good as the natural light would be.
This is the best of the photos I managed to take. Unfortunately it doesn’t look as good as it really is. The body of the bag is made out of two jackets. The flowers that decorate the bag are made of fabric samples of a furniture factory. My friend Daniela made the flowers. She’s got her own shop in Etsy too. It is called Muusa. muusa.etsy.com
After the photo-session inside I go for a walk and take a couple of photos for www.garbagebag.fi, which is my own internet-page I try to keep up. I fell in love with this gorilla that is made out of old tyres and I’m thinking of using it as a background of the Catadores-collection, but I’m not sure about that yet. The gorilla is lovely anyway.
Then I meet a friend of mine over a cup of coffee and we hit to Maatilatori which is a great oldfashioned-style shop that carries a good variety of ecological products and food from small producers. Today I buy vegetables, sausage and bread ‘cos I’ll have some friends over for dinner and I’m going to cook pumpkin-soup and a tapas-selection.
Unfortunately the cooking session was too hectic to include my camera into it. This is what the table and the soup looked like. Marco’s idea was to put popcorn into the soup instead of croutons and it was great. The secret is not to put too much of it into the soup at the same time ‘cos otherwise it gets too moist. Just add a couple of pieces at a time.

Quiet moment with a cup of coffee after a great day and I begin to think of my next sewing project. About a year ago I dropped my handbag in a concert and broke my cell. That was a dramatic and expensive accident and I want to prevent that happening again. That is why I’m going to make a padded winter-jacket for my current telephone.
This is what it is going to look like.
Maybe I’ll make a couple of them also to sell in Etsy.