I am finally living in my new house. Since March 28th actually. But just bought mirrors today and are you really living if you have no mirrors? Finally set up my studio last week, it’s not quite organized but I stopped myself from tinkering any further with my label maker, and am doing some actual sewing for the next week. Next (this?) weekend is The Clothing Show. My ninth? It wasn’t all shit talk either- 2010 is about the purge- so loads of tank tops out of whatever I got, embellished with whatever I got. As usual, I am getting side tracked by creativity, and being not nearly as sweat shoppy as I should be. I’m all la di da, ooh pretty, ooh shiny. I haven’t seen any of my fabrics or trims for a year and it’s all very inspiring and distracting. It’s times like these that I really do need that tattoo on my wrist. Which loosely translated, means “of ones own initiative” aka “ACTION!”  My should-be-working-constantly guilt is beginning to return.

Loenne turned ONE on April 30th! Wowzas, eh? She is a very sweet little lady. She says Ba! (ball, about a 1000 times a day lately) and Mama and Dada- we’re not sure if she knows what they mean but who cares. Sometimes she says “Mamamamamamamamamamamama” And hey, that’s what she wants to call me, that’s cool.   She can point to her nose, eyes, ears, feet and shoes! If you ask her “What does an owl say?” She says “Hoo. Hoo”. So funny. She claps and waves and dances like crazy. She doesn’t crawl yet! Or walk! I am trying not to let this bother me (but it does) just because, you know, everyone is always comparing baby achievements. She pulls herself around quite speedily while sitting on her ass so that’s just how she rolls, I guess. It will all happen soon enough.  Her favorite foods these days are oranges, apples, meatballs, yoghurt, and bran flakes in milk. That’s the one she yells for lately, maybe the first thing she’s ever yelled for.  She is very funny, very cute. Her Daddy can get her on a real roll of giggling and it’s the best

Here she is on her first birthday-

For kicks, here she is at one day old-

My little Loenne. What a difference a year can make!

Bye for now.

Everyone else, please enjoy.

Love her!!

She dressed up as a  . . . . . . . pioneer woman!

pioneer woman #1

have a break, you deserve it.

Did you know that Finland is at the same latitude as the Northwest Territories? I didn’t realize this. The Butikofer Matriarch experienced only 45 minutes of night while they were there. Lucky! One summer when the kids are big I hope Dom and I get a chance to drive on up to the Yukon to check that out. 

Anyway, no Laplander bonnet- but my Auntie Arlene did pick this up for Loenne-

Finninja Mini

I suppose this is going to be a Seinfeld-esque post about nothing.

Loenne is 2 weeks old now- she has her angel baby days, and her fussy baby days. My daily operations are consumed with trying to figure out what  makes her tick! What I’ve learned so far. . .

1) Breast Feeding is a tricky mistress. I look into the fridge with fear in my heart. I don’t know what to eat, because I don’t want to be the reason for her discomfort. Here I thought that I could get back to my daily coffee (oh delicious coffee, how I miss you). I’m avoiding dairy, most raw vegetables, onions, spicy anything, chocolate . . . I predict a very beige diet for next year.

2) Learning how to fart and burp is a big deal. Before the head lifting/rolling over/crawling/walking, I think burping and farting should be the first milestone. You can see her trying to do it, holding her breath a little, scrunching up her face- then she manages to squeeze one out and choirsongs burst from the heavens.  I wonder how long it takes before she knows how when she needs too. Soon, I hope!  It’s the cause of most, if not all of her angst.

3) Loenne is in love with these blocks- particularily the baby face. We put it beside her so she can see the face and she gets a rapt, content expression on her face. It’s amazing! And so cute. His name is George and he’s her boyfriend. They like to hang out, stare at each other, think thoughts together. She occasionally smiles in her sleep and I am pretty sure she is dreaming about him. If you are having a baby or know someone who is- get these blocks! You can find them at Baby’s R Us!

4) Apparently- not many people know how to pronounce Loenne. I thought we were giving her an easy, unique but not weird, not too cutesy-grow into womanhood kind of name. Still do! But to clarify, It’s Low-en. Emphasis on the low, not the en. And her middle name, Prairie, is that big vast space in the middle of Canada? Just kidding.  You knew that. We wanted to give her a little rock and roll-hippy-nature loving-ode to Mom’s roots-flavour. She may hate us for it or love us for it someday. Only time will tell!

Anyway. Fashion? What is that again?

Loenne Prairie was born Thursday April 30th at 7:30pm.

She weighed 9lb 3oz at birth! And was 22 inches tall. She is a substantial baby.  

My labour story? I won’t go to into the gorier of the details but it went something like this- I started getting contractions Tuesday night. They mellowed slightly during the day on Wednesday so we thought it might not happen. Dom and I went on a long walk to get a big breakfast, and we chilled, and waited. Wednesday night they started up again and were about 10 minutes apart all night, getting stronger and longer. By Thursday morning at about 11 am, they were coming more frequently at about 3 minutes apart. My midwife came by and checked me out and I was already 4-5 cm dilated, so we decided to head to the hospital.  It was an intense experience, I can’t really describe it. I would say that the milder contractions kind of felt like a snake bite on my insides (ie. when someone wrings your arm skin in opposite directions, most often performed by 11 year olds) The stronger contractions were similar but way deeper. The depth of that pain was mind blowing.

 My pushing stage was over two hours long- supposedly for a first time birth it’s 45 min to an hour. It was kind of terrible! I definitely felt some serious desparation. The pain was mostly in my back. Loenne was stuck for a while, but we got through it, one contraction, one push at a time.

I did it all without any drugs or an epidural. Why? I have no idea- because I’m crazy and it just kind of turned out that way. I dealt with the pain in other ways- yelling and swearing mostly. My Mother-In-Law said she could hear me in the hallways! Haha.  I think this is hilarious! But I am glad I didn’t know at the time. We stayed the night in the hospital, and came home the next day. She cried almost all night that first night. We had been through a seriously tramatic experience, and I think she had a headache. I wasn’t allowed to get out of bed, so we practised side lying feeding all night, and Dom was on diaper duty. 

Five days later- she’s a different baby! She is so beautiful and lovely, and very healthy. We’ve got breastfeeding pretty much locked. She eats well, and poos and pees like it’s going out of style. We’ve been in bed together since we got home, I’ve been on bedrest and there’s no place I’d rather be, with her and Dom in a cozy hole.  

I’ve started emerging back into the world the past day or two, ready to figure out a new routine. No rush, I guess. Dom and I are amazed at how adorable and beautiful she is, and how much we love her. I’m a Mom now! She totally rocks my world.

I got this in the mail this morning-

Word to the mother (me).

I’m going to go rake the lawn. Let’s get this party started!

hey hey hey!

For all my pals who are far away- here’s an update on my new look! The only other pregnancy shot you may have seen is this gorgeous one that Nicole tagged of Dom and I on facebook. As you can see, I’ve changed a lot since this one was taken.

And here’s the completed baby room-

We didn’t really have a specific theme besides “pretty and cute”, and we ended up collecting different pieces from all over. The furniture was from CSN Baby online. The wall decals were from Blik, also online. The black and white is easy for newborns to see, and they are super cute with birds, a fox, a dear, a squirrel, bugs and flowers. I got the Wimmer Ferguson black and white  mobile online.  Like the decals, the high contrast simple images are sure to turn her into a baby genius. The glider chair I found on craigslist for $70. There are tons of them on there, so I take it that it must be something that you don’t want in your house forever and might as well not spend a lot of money on. I recovered the cushions with a black and white ticking stripe denim. I’ve always liked the classic vintage ticking stripe- it’s got a friendly vibe, and it’s a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. Other odds and ends like the curtains and rug were from Ikea, and the black and white crib quilt and skirt were from Pottery Barn Kids. Decorating her little room was really fun. We took our time with it and we are in love with how fresh and pretty it turned out.

I’ve got a pretty bad case of ‘pregnancy brain’ these days. Meaning, I can’t concentrate on anything.  I’ve got a mile long list of things to do before the baby arrives- selling fall 09, packing up my studio, fastidious cleaning and organizing of my house, making half a dozen casseroles to freeze (haha I’m such a loser). . . and all I can seem to do is quilt! 

Anyway- one of them is done! Yes, one of them- I decided to make two instead of one. I realized that the actual quilting of the two layers together would never work with such a similar pattern on each side. My quilting method of choice is “stitching the ditch” of the block piecing, and it would be impossible to line up the pieced sides together, and the ditch stitching would be super off on one side and it would look like crap. So, I opted for a flannel back, a couple of colours pieced together. I put two layers of polar fleece between the front and back, rather than the traditional batting. I have a lot of the stuff from making Caninjas, and I am following the buy nothing rule. And besides, it’s fluffy and warm.

So- voila- quilt # 1.

I call it “Daiquiris By the Fire”

yummy

refreshing

sunset dreams

Speaking of fun ugly quilting projects- here is an oldie from the aforementioned spring 2005 “Lazy Susan” collection that never quite made it out of the gate. It’s so cozy.  I was going to bring the concept back for fall 09 but the designs got cut.  Still love it, there’s nothing better than a warm upper back and shoulders in winter.

if this isn't fun then I don't know what is