I'm Janimal, happily gainfully employed Momma to a sweet girl. Livin' it up in Atlanta with a great husband and a good job. Sometimes I make stuff and here's my spot to show it off! Life is good, so I'm sharing....

Thursday, January 27, 2011

A Wee Doggy

Hello Friends.

Delilah has been accessorizing a lot lately. She loves to put on her necklaces and bracelets. So I decided to add to her collection by sewing a little necklace pendant.





This little guy is from a sweet pattern in the book Wee Wonderfuls. The Doxie necklace. Not only does D like necklaces, but she loves doggies. So it wasn't just luck that she likes this little guy~!

The pattern calls for using rickrack but when I made it, had none on hand, so I just used plain white ribbon. My NEXT one will have cute rickrack! The fabric is a little scrap of French General from my stash.



There is a lovely FlickR group HERE to see other peeps projects from the book. Check it out! If you want a preview of what to expect from the book, here's a link to my post on the mermaiden pattern from the book, with a link to the FREE download of that pattern on Martha, so you can make your own!

Thanks for stopping by,

Janimal








make it wear it



Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Viewfinder Dress & Icycle Eating!

Hello again!

Here to show you Delilah's newest dress. I have been sewing quite a bit lately. So much, that I am kind of itching to try a craft project that DOESN'T require sewing. I'm putting on my thinking cap for what to do, friends.

Since Ruby Star Rising (By Melody Miller) fabric arrived at my house I've been trying to think of what to make from it. I am pretty happy with the dress I made Delilah (seen here and here) and decided one more dress for her should be in the works. So here it is, the viewfinder dress!



(Perhaps one of these days I'll find a better place to take pictures other than hanging on the side of my house!)
If you could see this dress up close in person, you could read the funny things written on each viewfinder lens. Too cute.


I'm sorry there is no live model to wear this dress right now. It's too cold! Just two weeks ago little Delilah was bundled up like this:

....she's eating an icycle! It's not quite icycle weather right now. But it's too cold to wear a summery Popover Dress. (I think the expression on her face = hilarious)

Ahh, the Popover Dress by Oliver and S. You can download the FREE pattern and instructions HERE and see my tutorial pictures HERE. It's such a lovely simple dress pattern, that is suitable for beginners.

To coordinate with the viewfinder fabric, I had trouble figuring out what to use. I thought about some patterns, some pink cotton, but nothing looked quite right. I ended up using a natural colored cotton/rayon blend from fabric.com.
To get my hands on Ruby Star Rising, I made purchases of it from Whipstitch Fabrics, FabricWorm, and Purl Soho. It was sold by other stores too - I believe there is a list on Melody's site. I think most stores have placed reorders so soon you could have some of this fab fabric too. (And I think I need one more print and color. Greedy greedy!)

In the near future I hope to show you some progress on my camo dress, and am working on a new creative tutorial to share. So please stop back by sometime!

Thanks for visiting!

Janimal



Today's Creative Blog




make it wear it

Monday, January 24, 2011

Camo Dress Progress And What The Cool Kids Are Wearing

Well, I got started on the camo dress.

All laid out and ready to cut. This is my muslin of the Socialite Dress pattern, sewn up in camo. (I am using camo as my muslin instead of my planned Amy Butler Temple Doors fabric)




I've actually made a little progress, but nothing cool I can really show you yet. I am a bit concerned that I may have cut the top too small. But I suppose this is why we sew a muslin, right?! It's just the more and more I look at my camo dress project, the less muslin-ish it is to me and the more oooooh-I-hope-it-works it gets!

Camo appears to be what the cool kids are wearing. Check it out.

Here, some famous British chick I don't know, wore that Balmain sequined camo dress on a red carpet. I like it better with the jacket but I still don't think sequins go with camo.






Another Balmain fan, Beyonce. I read that the military jacket cost $4700! And the camo pants about $1600! Holy cow!



Apparently Beyonce has had an eye for a camo for a while, this pic below was from 2007!






Um, this next pic is really not the kind of camo garment I think I could or would try to pull off. Although I do think it would garner some attention. Hey, do you think that's what Paris was going for? Attention? You know she hates attention!




Rihanna is a bit more subdued in her camo.



Oh Jessica Simpson rocks the camo too. And she's recently engaged. I should email her and suggest a camo wedding dress. Seriously, in my googling for camo garments I came across a ton of redneck wedding attire.




And here's Kim Kardashian in another Balmain creation. Would someone remind me why she's famous again, please?



I just think this pic of Katy Perry is totally cute. And she has great legs.





More tight camo pants on Mary J Blige. Perfectly accessorized of course, diva.






When I first saw this pic at first glance I thought it was Lindsay Lohan. Perhaps trying to blend in camo as she strolls into rehab....again. But it's Miley. Hmmmmm. Scary that I got those two confused. SAVE MILEY!





There are a bunch of pics of famous dudes wearing camo also, but they are a bit boring in my opinion.

What I discovered here, is that it seems a little camo can go a LONG way. Too much is just.....too much. A camo piece with the right accessories can look super classy. But the wrong garment and styling and it's redneck city. This concerns me because although I LOVE ACCESSORIES, I am pretty awful at putting them together. I have a bunch of pretty necklaces that I can never figure out how to wear. Le sigh. And a camo dress *might* be overkill. Ah well, if it's not wearable, perhaps I can make a little camo bag from it!

SO I guess this post today was a fashion show. I'll have to make sure my next post shows a bit more......creativity! I'm up for it! Please come back!

Thanks for stopping by!
Later skater,


Janimal

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Ruby Star Rising Dress and Stinkeye!

Recently I showed you a simple dress I made using the fabulous ruby star rising fabric from Melody Miller. Delilah had to model it for you.


She makes the funniest little faces when I ask her to model for me.
I had grand plans to make a matching hair accessory and bag, but couldn't wait for those for Delilah to wear this dress. Though it was a struggle convincing her to take off her ballet tutu to put this on. She's REALLY into wearing a tutu these days!


It's a little big on her at the moment. But that's ok, because she's growing like a weed so maybe she'll get to wear this more than once!



Isn't she cute? Perhaps never mind on making the matching hair accessory. Delilah INSISTED on wearing this non-matching purple hairbow no matter what.


She was having all kinds of fun running around.


Now here's the pic that makes me feel badly. She woke up at 4am that morning, and wouldn't go back to sleep. I should have known something was wrong. Look how tired the poor dear looks here. Happy, but those are some sleepy eyes.


Despite the early wake-up, I dragged her little booty to music class that morning. And she got sick about a minute after this pic was taken. So I assume her early morning wakeup was due to an upset tummy, poor dear. (All's well though, she was fine after that morning episode and got a long nap.)

A little vent.......

I caught the stinkeye with accompanying whispers from a couple moms at music class while I was taking care of the cleanup. Despite being engrossed in taking care of D and the mess, I STILL noticed their attitude and caught some of what they were saying. What's up with that?! I didn't intentionally bring a sick child to class and I hightailed it out of there immediately.

Class hadn't started yet so D hadn't handled any instruments. She had no fever, and until the moment she blew chunks, appeared happy and was running around playing. Perhaps I should have known something was up, but I really had no idea I would be facing vomit in a public place later. Um, compassion fellow moms?


A little background......Actually I've met some nice moms at this music class, but also have gotten some negative reaction from some moms when I disclose I am a working mom. In our suburb, being a stay at home mom appears to be the norm. That's cool, yo. But it means I get sympathizing judgment and comments about working - "Oh, you work? Well that's ok. If you have to." - real quote accompanied by arm pat. I respect those who SAH, it's too bad so many people can't be respectful of people who make different choices. It doesn't bug me so much, I choose not to judge their lifestyle choices and I don't care how they judge mine.

But this attitude about my sick kid did irritate me.

Anyway, how about I sit right next to one of the stinkeye ladies at the next music class? And maybe say something like "Hmmm, it smells funny in here, like vomit or something!!" And talk about my career. Hehe.

Or perhaps I will take the high road and focus on the moms that are actually COOL in the class. Decisions, decisions.

Ordinarily if I caught someone being nasty (and their comments sounded nasty) I would call someone on it. But at the time, my child was my focus not those catty women. I should (and probably will) just let this go. They don't matter.

But every once in a while, cattiness just really gets to me. Since I was a girl in school I have always had a special dislike for catty people (not just women!). I have always been the type to be as direct as possible, and to not put up with or be friendly with mean chicks. In school I was the type to stick up for those being picked on. Gosh, I think I still am that type. I suppose there were enough mean girls in school that we are bound to encounter mean moms too. They suck.

So anyway, do I even have a point? I lost it somewhere. Oh yeah, mean girls suck. And its extra super lame to be mean to someone when they can't have a go at you back (like when your kid is puking on you.)

Ah, anyway, not my usual kind of post talking about all this. Thanks for stopping by and be nice to someone today!

Janimal

Friday, January 14, 2011

Taggy Blanket for Baby

I like to give expecting parents a practical gift for their babies, AND also make them a taggy blanket for fun. Since getting an embroidery machine, I get to give out personalized ones. Up until now, I have forgotten to take pictures of them to show here on my blog. But here you go!






I hope little Lila likes her new taggy.


The pink is a nice soft fleece, with a piece of scrap cotton and lots of assorted ribbons of different colors, textures, and sizes for little fingers to play with.

My own daughter, at 2, sleeps with her taggy each night. Although hers is (gasp!) store bought. I picked it up in a baby store when I was first pregnant. It's kind of fun to collect different ribbons to use for these. Even my sweet husband has gotten in on the act and has given me ribbons as gifts!

I have to go hide this now until I see Lila. If Delilah sees it she may claim it for her own!

This gift is good for both boys AND girls. I'm going to write a little tute and post it here shortly. If you have some sewing experience, you can probably figure this out on your own, just take this one hint from me. Make sure to use a small stitch and ensure those ribbons are super duper secure (mine are triple stitched) because these are for babies and safety first! Tute hopefully this week!


Thanks for stopping by.

Later skaters,


Janimal




Texas MonkeyGettin' Krafty With It

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Delilah's New Jacket AND Her Fabric Obsession

Delilah has a new fancy jacket and a love of fabric!

First, check out Delilah's new Sunday Brunch Jacket (pattern by Oliver and S)


The fabric is lovely and soft, Paisley Corduroy in Autumn Nest by Valori Wells (purchased from Whipstitch Fabrics). I just love it. I want to make a skirt or pants to match, but I think using the same fabric will just be too much. So I must find a nice solid that coordinates I think. Hmmmmm. Any suggestions?




It took me far too long to choose these wooden buttons! Do you guys agonize over buttons like I do?

This jacket was SO much easier to make than I thought it would be! Seriously, the instructions are so clear and the result so polished looking. I am dead chuffed! I just think it will look great on Delilah. I'll post pics of her wearing it when I can.

Now, I actually had another project in mind before starting the jacket, and got out a lovely piece of voile fabric (Paisley Jungle by Kaffe Fassett, purchased from Intown Quilters). I pressed it and prepared to lay out my pattern pieces to make Delilah a nice light tunic top for Spring.

Delilah had other ideas. She swiped it!


She did agree it would look cute on her.



Perhaps as a Sari?


Perhaps more stylish as a top?


She wore it as an OBI belt for a little while.

In the end, she just kept the fabric.


It found a new home in her room. At bedtime she might grab it and run around the room with it flowing behind her. Or we'll each take the corners and flap it up and down as she giggles. She says it's HER fabric, and I must say, I think the kid has taste.

So, my kid likes fabric. Just like her Momma! Although I think it would make a cute top for her, I really like that she decided to just claim some fabric for her own.

Thanks for stopping by!

(Progress on my camo dress is forthcoming!)

Later skater,

Janimal


P.S.

I am aware that pictures of my toddler aren't as charming to other people as they are to me. But hey, it's MY blog after all, and I want to show off her cuteness!


make it wear it