Leland gal Stories

It's always this time of year that brings me back to Evanston, Illinois. Evanston is where I started my career as an Art Teacher at the wonderful Washington School, a community like none other I've witnessed.  in 2001, the year I started, Washington did not look like this. The largest...

It's funny, I was thinking about doing some new fabric designs and I actually told myself "no". I thought, I've already introduced enough to my "2014" fabric line, and it will confuse people. About 30 seconds later I realized that was the dumbest thing I'd ever said to myself.  Why...

If you are a dog lover, you know the truth, having a dog is like having a dirty secret. On the outside, things look completely normal, but as dog owners we know that life with a dog can be pretty unusual. However, we also know that life would be extremely...

Are you kidding me? NO WAY COULD I LIVE IN A NEUTRAL WORLD! These are the shoes I just bought to prep for the Fishtown 5K for goodness sake. Neutral is not in my DNA. It's not always for the best, I often can't find things to match because I...

Last year, we started a challenge of creating teams for the annual Fishtown 5K race.  It brought some friendly competition among shopkeepers and staff, and helped all of us make a goal of completing a 5K, while supporting one of our favorite causes, the Fishtown Preservation Society.  Here is our...

Remember this beautiful picture I borrowed to show the beauty of framing fabric patterns? How much of a small world can it be, that I am now featured on this designers blog? Jana Bek is a designer that I found on Houzz, and connected with about our similar tastes and...

"You always post "We" or "Our" when writing about Leland gal, so who else is involved?" People do ask me this question from time to time, and it's really a hard one to answer. This is how my summers in Leland, Michigan started. That's me, the tiniest one in the...

My cousins and I had a great trip visiting with my Grandmother, Janie. We heard some great stories, chatted about family, drank martinis, and talked interior design. When you are talking with someone who was born in 1913, the range of subject matter is vast, and the weight of issues...

While most folks take a trip for the spring, there is one special person to me that stays and endures all of the elements of Leland year round, and that is my Grandmother Janie.  Janie turned 100 in June of 2013, and she is truly a marvel. In fact, she...