Thursday, July 22, 2010

BUTTON LUST!

Is there such a thing??
Oh I do believe there is.
And I am afflicted!

I don't know when it happened - maybe when I was a little girl and used to sit under the big tree in our backyard in Ohio - with my mom's huge button tin, stringing them together for hours and hours - making necklaces (that she would always excitedly wear) and bracelets and yes - the long, long record breaking strands of  glass buttons, metal buttons, leather buttons, and wood buttons (very few plastic back then.)  Oh how I loved them.

I've recently felt the yearning again to touch buttons as they have found their way into some of the things I have been making - not for purpose - but simply for their aesthetic quality and beauty.  They have the  coolest buttons now - in beautiful colors, textures and shapes.  I picked these up recently on a trip to buy some canvas for a project I'm working on.  I couldn't resist.  I am particuarly enamored with the large purple one and know exactly what I'm going to do with.

I salvaged my Mom's button tin a few years ago.  The day after her funeral, while going through some things,  I found it in a closet in my parents' home.  I immediately reached for it and put it in my suitcase to bring home. It was the only thing I took that day.  The only thing that at the time - mattered. I never add new buttons to that box.  I leave it containing only it's original, authentic contents.  Buttons "she" had placed in there. That  button box remains my most treasured possession. It sits here beside me in my studio - where I can see it - and remember.    My new buttons - well they have their own place in my studio - in a pretty glass fish bowl on the other side of the room on the shelves. Maybe one day Sabrina will have my button fish bowl - where she can see it - in her studio.

8 comments:

Deborah said...

Oh there is! And have you been to the button floosies blog?

Mary Welsh Hubbard said...

I am completely addicted to buttons. I have my grandmothers button basket and the buttons from my great grandmother. It's true love.

libbyquilter said...

oh yes indeed~!~ i too have a chronic case of button lust and hope it never goes away~!!~ lol

what a sweet post~!

:-)
libby Q

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

I think a love of buttons goes with most people that love fibers, or at least love to sew. Way back when they put button embellishment on purses vests, etc...you know the pieces that were covered in buttons...I loved that.

Deborah said...

http://buttonfloozies.blogspot.com/
Here's the link. Hope you like it.

~Babs said...

Awe, this is the very best post!
That button box would have been in my suitcase too. Mom had a cannister of buttons,,but I think she must have done something with it long ago, I hadn't seen it in years.
sabrina will treasure your botton bowl. (if they aren't all used up in your projects. I can invision that large purple one in your work myself!)

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Yes, a button affliction sums it up for me too!

It's always lovely when we find a purpose for our special buttons that are more ornamental and useful and can be enjoyed x

Pursuing Art... said...

Oh, Cathie...I have a fondness for buttons too! They are such beautiful treasures and works of art. I'm so glad that you have and treasure you mom's button tin...that warms my heart!

I have my Nana's buttons in her original box too and I included my mom's loose buttons there with hers.

Glad that you are going to find the perfect glass bowl for your buttons. It will be a treasure for Sabrina...one day.

Hugs to you...XOX

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