Leandra George

Newspapers, Magazines Oh My!

2010-07-08T19:48:05Z

I've had a little bit of attention lately. It's all local news but it's still great!

Last week Bridgit at The Onion Tree was interviewed by the local paper, The Wichita Eagle, about her shop. I love how she's been getting a lot of good press for her shop. She was kind enough to put a few words in for me. I happen to be dropping off inventory when the photographer came so I'm the person in the background pretending to shop, hehehe.

Onion Tree boutique sells local artists' work

I was interviewed awhile ago by a local magazine, The Naked City, about selling on Etsy. The article came out this month. Sarah, who wrote the article, was wonderful to meet with and did a great job on the story.

Wichita, Meet Etsy

Cheers,

Kyle

Color Coordinated Camera Case

2010-07-01T19:37:56Z

Now, can you say that title five times fast? Anyways onward, I really needed to make a camera case for my new digital camera. Why buy one when you can make one, right? So I whipped this up last week to have in time for the Quilt Show. Well, whipped is an understatement. It took longer than expected. Figuring out how to do the top zipper was difficult for me.

I made it from scrap fabric from my bicycle bags. So it matches my bike bags and my purse. I'm color coordinated!

Here is the back. I put in a zip pocket on the back to hold whatever. The strap is removable.

I had and still have a ton of high density foam left over from the dining chairs I recovered. I used the foam for padding in my case. The case is bigger than my camera so it can hold other items like extra batteries and my little tripod. I covered some spare foam to make a few dividers for the bag.

Here is the inside with one of the dividers. There is a small side pocket to hold things.

I've been hauling, bike riding, tossing it over my shoulder all over town and my camera is doing fine. I'm really happy with how it came out.

Cheers,

Kyle

Father's Day Gifts

2010-06-27T16:39:43Z

Last week was Father's Day! I made my Dad a Hawaiian shirt. When we went to Hawaii a few years ago and he picked out some fabric. He failed to send me his measurements to make him the shirt. My lovely Step Mom was kind enough to do that, so now he finally has his shirt. I don't have a picture yet. I figured it would be better to get one with him wearing it.

My Step Dad hates squirrels. Plain hates them. I like to send him things with squirrels on them to mock his hate. So I made him this little pouch.

Here is the back.

It also happened to my Step Mom's birthday. She isn't fond of celebrating her birthday so I told her Happy Father's Day instead. I made her this cute tote bag. It's from a free pattern off of Denyse Schmidt's website.

What did you make/give/do for your dad?

Cheers,

Kyle

Summer Gathering

2010-06-26T19:12:23Z

About two weeks ago we had a little get together for some of our friends at our place. I had to share the pictures of the wonderful food my husband, Richard, made. He's a fantastic cook.

Here's the spread with all the yummy goodness.

I kept eating these, Semolina disks with a Caprese Salad on top.

We had none of these left by the end of the night, Bacon and Guacamole Canapés on homemade wheat bread.

Richard has wanted to make onion rings for quite some time. He fried up Vidalia Onions and Asparagus. The dipping sauce he made was delicious!

Ready for dessert, Strawberries and Lemon Curd. Homemade pound cake with fresh lemon curd buttered on, topped with macerated strawberries and homemade whipped cream.

Our friend Cynthia made some yummy homemade salsa. I made a few things but they are pale in comparison to Richard's amazing cooking. I had more fun decorating the table.

Hungry yet?

Cheers,

Kyle

Verb [Nest]

2010-06-11T16:54:13Z

Quite awhile ago I was asked by a tweep, yes someone I met off twitter, if they could come do an apartment interview. So a few weeks ago Denise, who writes for Verb ICT on the side, came to take pictures, chat with us, and be fed by Richard. Here is the article about our place!

Verb [Nest]

The area downtown we live in is buildings that used to be warehouses. Many have been converted into shops, restaurants, and bars. Our building is all loft apartments. Hope you enjoy!

Cheers,

Kyle

A Marriage of Geeks

2010-06-10T02:22:02Z

This past weekend Richard and I drove down to Dallas to celebrate his friend/coworker Stephen get married. So of course I made the newlyweds a wedding gift. Me buy from a registry!?

Here is the full set sans the magnets. I didn't even realize I forgot the magnets in the photo until this evening, oh well. They received oven mitts, oven squares, a set of 8 napkins, a set of 8 coasters, and of course some magnets.

Oven Mitts

Oven Squares. These are great to use for anything hot. You can use it to set a hot pan or dish on or use it to grab things out of the oven with.

Napkins

Coasters

Magnets

Stephen and Kelly are an adorable couple and we wish them the best.

Cheers,

Kyle

Living Room Tour

2010-05-27T16:51:19Z

I didn't mention, Sunday my orange fluffy kitty, Tabitha celebrated her 5^th birthday! Here is a cute picture of her with my new camera.

After I excitedly got my camera yesterday I began to take pictures like mad of all the things I had planned to.

I just recovered some glider/rocker chairs we have. They were given to us by my mother. Richard and I don't mind them but the horrible plaid doesn't match our aesthetic. So a few months ago I made the living room floor a screen printing area. I printed a design I created with thickened dye so it would soak into the material. That worked okay, had some misprints because our floor isn't as flat as I thought. I became a smurf in the process.

Here is the rocker in its plaid awfulness.

Now with the newly made covers! They are right over the plaid. I didn't want to mess with taking the plaid off. Also, when/if we decide to get rid of the rockers I can take the covers off to salvage the fabric I printed. There are zippers to easily remove the covers to wash. I made those two pillows too. The aqua one is made of silk dupioni and I stitched some French silk antique lace down on it. I inherited the lace from my great grandmother who was a seamstress. The orange one is from a print fabric at Ikea. Love that store.

Here is the other rocker with another pillow I made. Most of those fabrics in the pillow are scraps or material samples. This rocker sits next to our mini forest of fruit trees.

If you read my blog then you've seen this wall. But here is a view to see the newly covered rocker in it. I like it!

Since a couch is an expensive buy I had to make our futon work. It needed to be more comfortable so I put a piece of memory foam on top of the futon mattress. Then I bought a white futon cover and dyed it the turquoise color. It's not my best dye job but it works. Then I put lots of pillows on it. Most of them I made. The poppies art quilt I made a few months back was for the couch. I thought it needed something thrown over the back. For now this works, but I still want a couch.

This is one of my favorite pillows I made for us. It sits on Richard's Lazy Boy chair. [Click image to see larger]

We recently mounted all of our bikes onto the ceiling. They were in the way. It's a pulley system mount. It's really easy to get the bikes up and down.

Hope you enjoyed!

Cheers,

Kyle

The Onion Tree

2010-05-26T17:03:48Z

As I impatiently wait for my new camera to be delivered to me today, I wanted to let yall know about the new boutique in town.

The Onion Tree is a modern gift boutique. All the items for sale are handmade! There is jewelry, hats, pillows, purses, and much more. It is owned by the lovely Bridget who moved back to Wichita to start this shop. While living in Portland, Oregon she loved all the shops that were dedicated to handmade items but saw the market was oversaturated. She decided to bring this idea to an area that lacked a store of this nature. It's a wonderful idea for Wichita and a great way for local artists to get recognized.

The store is open now for everyone to visit but The Grand Opening of The Onion Tree is June 5 from 5-8pm. There will be hors d'oevers and refreshments to celebrate the occasion.

It is located on 120 North Hillside, Wichita, Kansas.

This is a great way for those of you who admire my handmade goodies to see them in person. Most of the items I had listed online have moved offline to be sold at The Onion Tree. So please, everyone check it out! I will not be able to make the grand opening as I will be out of town for a wedding but I ask that you go.

Cheers,

Kyle

Reusable Cotton Rounds

2010-05-24T17:02:55Z

My husband mentioned a few weeks ago he stopped using one of his facial products because he didn't like throwing away the cotton pads we used to apply the product. I told him I could make some reusable ones. So I did.

I made them out of some bamboo fleece fabric I had. Cut two circles the size of a cotton round. With good side out lay them together. Surge, or in my case zigzag, around the outer edge of the round. Volia, reusable cotton pads. I washed and dried them so they are a little curled on the edges but hey they work.

For those not savvy with sewing you can find reusable cotton pads online to buy.

Cheers,

Kyle

Little Frog Port

2010-05-21T17:30:38Z

I whipped out this little baby quilt last night. It's for a friend expecting a baby boy soon. I learned a cool way to do quilted circles that I had to put it to use. The blue fabric has little frog's on it. I think with the circles look like portholes on a ship, thus the name. The pictures are not the best because I'm using the old lame digital camera since my nice one died last week.

Front of the quilt. The quilt is 28" x 40."

Here is a close up of the circles.

The back is some green fabric with little shiny gold swirls on it.

Cheers,

Kyle

Spring for Biz

2010-05-20T23:20:41Z

Right now, I feel like everything has hit me all at once. I also feel like all the right doors are closing and many new ones are coming fast. I've had the chance to meet some wonderful people and gain some great opportunities.

Because of this I am a busy bee lately. I feel like when I have lots of things going on and deadlines to hit, I get more done. I have a bunch of projects I need to get done before the end of the month. Wedding gift, baby gift, art submissions, and many unfinished home projects. I've been in the habit of lending my time to others too. Helping a friend with the finishing touches on the office we designed. Teenage birthday party tomorrow; I made the decorations.

With business stuff, the list is ever growing. I'm getting ready to register for a business ID. This has made me see I need to reorganize things and rethink others. I also need to recreate some new spreadsheets for my items. I discovered while my current one is good with organizing my Etsy store, it's not so much when it comes to items for consignment.

That's right consignment. Many of the items I'm currently selling online are moving offline. They will be selling at The Onion Tree, located 120 N. Hillside. This shop will be dedicated to selling handmade goods. Bridget, the wonderful owner, has been doing a great job on the store. It looks really nice. There will even be an area for teaching classes there. You are welcome to stop by and shop now but the Grand Opening will be June 5.

There are also some other good things pertaining to my biz that will be happening soon but I'm keeping quiet until I know more. I'll keep you posted when I can.

Cheers,

Kyle

Kitty Birthdays and the Answer to Life

2010-05-09T02:41:02Z

First off, I have to say... Happy Birthday to my kitty, Matilda! She turned 4 years old today. Here is the birthday girl. She had a pink bow on but wiggled around so much it became a tie.

This evening I finished Richard's pannier bags for his bike. They are the same bag design as mine just different colors and embellishments.

He is a geek so he asked for "42" to be put on his bags. It's the answer to life from "The Hitchhiker's Guild to the Galaxy". Richard actually picked out the fabric color and the font for his 42. Both bags are the same. I appliquéd the 42 down with a zigzag stitch around the edge. I think they look pretty sharp with Richard's bike.

Here is a back view of both.

We'll be shopping all over town on our bikes now!

Cheers,

Kyle

Commuter Ready Bicycle

2010-05-07T18:45:38Z

I haven't posted a picture of my new bike! Here it is with all its gadgets and prettiness. Richard and I got the same bike actually. We could only get them in one color too. Mine is just a smaller version. I really liked the design of the men's bike over the women's. I plan on jazzing the bars up with stickers. The front basket is for Matilda, one of my cats, to ride in!

Love my bike!

I just finished making my set of pannier bags. They are inspired off the purse I carry everywhere. They are made of 100% cotton duck cloth that I dyed purple. The front is pieces of cotton, linen, silk, and polyester fabrics, some of which I dyed. I put Iron on Vinyl on the whole inside of the bags to make them more water resistant. On the sides is a reflective strip so cars can see how wide my bike is with the bags.

Here is a close-up of the front of both bags. They are similar design but different birdies. {Click on the image to see a larger picture}

I put a front zip pocket on the flap to carry small things in.

The inside is nice, big, and deep. We want to use them mostly for groceries so I wanted to make sure we had the room. I also added an adjustable strap so we could carry them into the store with us. The strap unhooks on one side so you can tuck it in the bag out of the way. I considered making the whole strap removable but I thought keeping it attached on one side would keep us from losing it.

The back is supported with corrugated plastic, the stuff yard sale signs are made of, to stiffen it. It has been sewn into a pocket in the back of the bag. I sewed down the hooks with webbing. It has been sewn down into the plastic. They are not going anywhere. The bungee with the vinyl covered S hook is to keep the bag from wiggling around while riding. The bungee is removable so you could use it separately.

I'm currently finishing up Richard's bags. I'll post them when I'm done.

Cheers,

Kyle

House Repairs

2010-05-06T17:08:50Z

This past weekend Richard and I drove to Dallas to fix up some minor stuff on our house. We rented our house for just over year. Since we recently put it up for sale we needed to fix up some renter damages and do some basic up keep to our house.

Richard worked outside cleaning up the yard and fixing the shed that had sustained damage over the year from natural wear and tear. He cleaned up all the matted down leaves and planted some flowers to give our small back yard some color.

I hate renters. In general people are terrible to places they don't physically own. I feel like I'm a very good renter. Probably the only thing I can see that could be a problem is I like to paint the walls. I cannot live in a white world.

I worked inside the house repainting all of the woodwork. I'm saying all baseboards, doors, doorframes, and cabinets. Our property manager thought the tenants had used a harsh abrasive cleaner to all those surfaces because you could see white marks all over them. I discovered they were not cleaned they were painted! All of the woodwork is off white in color. They used generic cheap white paint all over the woodwork as if to hide the markups. We suspect it was used to paint over dirty areas instead of cleaning. I was annoyed by the kitchen the most since I had freshly painted the walls and cabinets before we left. My brother lives in Dallas and was wonderful to come over and help me out.

I found an outlet cover that had been wood glued back onto the wall. Seriously!? Those are like 99 cents to get a new one and screw back on. That was fun having to pry it off the wall.

I can't complain too much. Overall, they were good renters. We didn't have any holes in walls, rotting floors, or something else major. It was just annoying.

We finished up Monday morning and headed home. The house looks nice. Now let's hope it will sell.

Cheers,

Kyle

Happy Earth Day

2010-04-22T22:30:57Z

Photo taken at Tybee Island, GA.

As far as what I'm doing on Earth Day, I'm not doing anything much different. We do as much as we can in our apartment right now. Though we have plans for even more in the future. Here are some of the things we do.

We eat mostly organic and locally produced foods. Richard makes all of our breads and pasta. It's sooooo yummy! He also roasts his own coffee and brews his own organic beer.

We recycle as much as we can. Any containers we can reuse ourselves we keep. I have tons to put paint, dyes, and art supplies in. Everything else goes to the recycling center.

Quite awhile ago, as our paper towel stash was coming to an end, I suggested to my husband that we get some heavy linen to make as reusable paper towels. Linen is super absorbent and very strong. I bought some natural upholstery weight linen and cut them to paper towel sizes and kitchen towel sizes. With my awesome roll hemmer foot I was able to whip them out fast. We love using them for everything.

As we started using reusable bags more and more we realized we didn't have enough for groceries and the couple we had were small. I found a great place online, Reusablebags.com, that has all kinds of green products that are fair trade and part of the sales goes towards the environment. We bought some hemp/cotton bags. Hemp is lightweight but stronger than a cotton. The site also had some great cotton produce bags that we love using. I screen printed a little design on our bags to make them more fun. At first we had a habit of forgetting our bags but now it's such a norm. Most cashiers at stores still have a hard time getting used to someone saying "I don't need a bag."

Off topic: I ironed some of the plastic bags together today to make a fabric you can make stuff out of. I hated the feel of it. It was just so gross to me. There is something very nice about a woven natural fiber textile. Plastic bags are horrible, period.

Our apartment forest as we call it, has taken over part of our living room. We wish we had a patio for more. It doesn't help that we've become plant addicted by always getting more seeds and plants to put around the apartment. We have a lemon, lime, pomegranate, two olive, and a palm tree. Only the lemon is producing right now because all the trees are still saplings. Then there are the little plants scattered about, little trees, orchids, ect. Then we have the planters with seeds in them trying to get stuff to grow. My attempt at growing cotton has come to an end since my kitties chomp the 3" seedlings to nothing. And then we have Richard's hobby, his aquaponic's garden. That houses herbs, tomatoes, and peppers. It's a pretty awesome. The link shows older versions of it. It has a better set up now.

We really love the green cleaning product line Method. Just started using the detergent and I have say I'm liking it. Oh, for drying, dryer balls are the best! They are also great for felting fabric in the dryer.

When I was working in corporate, I saw they were so wasteful. When I discovered they were throwing away pieces of sample fabrics because they were no longer in production I rescued them. I ended up with something like 8 huge boxes of sample fabrics that can be made into tons of pretty things. Most are fabrics that are over $100 a yard! My boss's comment was, "You can make stuff out of all that?" Shocking! I gave a lot of it away to crafters and saved two bins for myself. I also managed to save a bunch of packs of cork flooring they were going to toss. I lined my studio wall in it to make a giant bulletin board out of it. Many friends and family have done the same. I keep every little scrap of fabric, paper, or whatever knowing I will use them somehow too. Yes it does take up room but I know I can use it better than the landfill.

Recently, the one I'm most excited about, we got ourselves some commuter bikes to use our car even less. Since we both work from home we hardly use the car. We got rid of mine awhile ago so we are down to one, soon to none. We added fenders, racks, and baskets. I'm currently making our pannier bags. I figured I could make them how we want them and make them in pretty colors since black is common. I'll post pictures as I work on them. I just finished dying the fabric for mine. Yesterday we rode the 3+ miles to our friend's Earth Day Eve BBQ. I did okay. Since Richard road bikes for exercise it's nothing to him. But I haven't ridden a bike since my freshman year of high school. I'm a bit out of shape. We made it there and back fine. Yes, by the way, we are wearing helmets when we ride.

On a funny note: I shoved my kitties in my front basket to see if they would ride. Tabitha wasn't going to have it but Matilda did awesome. I rode her down the apartment hallways and took her for like a two minute ride up the side street. She was a little shook more from bumps but didn't try to get out. When I brought her back home she was at the door begging to get out of the apartment. I will make her a commuter kitty! I'm thinking I might start a blog for Matilda, too, lol.

Well, anyways, Happy Earth Day everyone!

Cheers,

Kyle