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Stitching & Crafting Room:  does anyone collect buttons?  |
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showmemom
True Blue Farmgirl
166 Posts
karen
carthage
mo
USA
166 Posts |
 Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 2:02:00 PM
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does anyone collect buttons?
my grandmother was a quilter and to keep me busy she would give me her button box and a long piece of thread and i would get to make my own button necklaces.
i love to get a big bowl of them and just run them through my fingers.
i have 2 large chicken waterers full in my front room and people always comment on them when they're at the house.
always looking for more so if you have some, let me know.
talk to you soon. karen
living' large in MO |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 2:07:17 PM
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Yes! Karen! In fact, I picked up another tin of them at a yard sale on Saturday. Don't know where these had been, but they were so dirty that I had to wash them up. I have mine all sorted by colors and I do intend to use them.
I feel like "if these buttons could talk, oohh the stories they could tell!"
It might be fun to have my grandaughter make a necklace the next time she's over though!
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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Edited by - Clare on Jul 25 2005 2:07:50 PM |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 2:15:55 PM
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My grandmother wrote my name on her old button box to bequeth me on her passing. I too loved playing with her buttons. I used some of the unique and old ones on baby dresses I sewed for my daughters. A few of them looked like old ivory cameos.
The flowers flee from Autumn, but not you-
You are the fearless rose that grows amidst the freezing wind. Rumi |
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Clare
True Blue Farmgirl
2173 Posts
NC WA State
USA
2173 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 2:19:58 PM
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Meadowlark - love your new tag line... that's one way to beat the heat, isn't it?  It's all mind over matter!
**** Love is the great work - though every heart is first an apprentice. - Hafiz
Set a high value on spontaneous kindness. - Samuel Johnson****
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Edited by - Clare on Jul 25 2005 2:20:23 PM |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 2:27:31 PM
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Hey Clare, Its 102 here, but I am thinking fall and there is a cold front headed my way with rain and 75 degree temps!
The flowers flee from Autumn, but not you-
You are the fearless rose that grows amidst the freezing wind. Rumi |
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KarenP
True Blue Farmgirl
666 Posts
Karen
Chippewa Falls
Wisconsin
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 2:33:21 PM
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Buttons, wow I have collected 4 blue quart jars full and then some.
I really love buttons, hard for me to use them on projects.
KarenP
"Purest Spring Water in the World" |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 2:45:06 PM
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I love buttons and was given my grandma's button box too! When we were little and got in trouble at her house we were sat "in the corner" her button box was on the floor near her sewing machine in reach of the "corner". She always pretended not to notice when I played in the button box. When she was sick and knew she didn't have long to live she gave me several things including that button box full of neat vintage buttons and some strings of thing (buttons and shells) that we made as kids..and my grandpa's high school letter that he had for baseball at Aztec NM high school. I am so happy that I got it. I love buttons too and have a hard time resisting them!!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
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Kathigene
True Blue Farmgirl
160 Posts
Kathy
New York
160 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 3:44:00 PM
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You are so lucky to have your grandmothers button boxes. I have so many fond memories of playing in Mother Fahey's button box. They were in a round tin and I know that there were old wooden spools and some old thread too. It also had a mysterous smell. It was probably just dust but I smile just thinking about it.
Kathy in NY |
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showmemom
True Blue Farmgirl
166 Posts
karen
carthage
mo
USA
166 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 4:21:34 PM
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love hearing other women's stories about their grandmothers. my maternal grandmother died when my mom was just 13 so missed meeting her but my daddy's mom-she was great! she and her family homesteaded land in very, very rural sw missouri and she could tell stories!! when we were little, she and my grandpa still butchered their own meat and canned everything-even spring greens!
now that my kids are grown and growing up, i miss her more and more. she died when i was 19; she had tried to teach me to quilt for a couple of years before but i thought i knew everything and didn't learn. how i wish i could go back.
anyway, the best thing the other day--i love flea markets and junk shops and i found a button tin JUST like my grandma's. i paid too much money for it but it now has a proud place in my office and is filled with a tiny portion of my button collection. it makes my laugh and cry both just to look at it.
thanks for your stories. reading them makes me smile.
talk to you soon. karen
*a beautiful lady is an accident of nature. a beautiful old lady is a work of art* Louis Nizer
living' large in MO |
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MeadowLark
True Blue Farmgirl
2206 Posts
USA
2206 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 4:43:07 PM
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I love these grandma button stories! My grandma's button box was an old 50's Christmas greeting card box... very small with a forest snow scene on it. Humble, but it sure held a treasure for me!
The flowers flee from Autumn, but not you-
You are the fearless rose that grows amidst the freezing wind. Rumi |
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Aunt Jenny
True Blue Farmgirl
11381 Posts
Jenny
middle of
Utah
USA
11381 Posts |
Posted - Jul 25 2005 : 7:22:02 PM
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My grandma's button box was a plain cedar jewelry box with no lining about the size of a loaf pan. It has a hinged lid, but no clasp...and chips on the front edge of the lid...no doubt from us playing with it when we were kids!
Jenny in Utah
The best things in life arn't things! |
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Erthdancr
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Rebecca
Gregory
Michigan
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2005 : 06:48:35 AM
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I collect vegetable ivory buttons to use on my Civil War clothing.
My grandma's button box was a tobacco tin. My mom still has the tin, but the buttons have disappeared...I think my sister dumped them in my grandma's attic when she was a kid. My mom did come across 3 antique buttons which were my great grandmother's. She gave them to me!
Rebecca
An immaculate house is the sign of a wasted life. |
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showmemom
True Blue Farmgirl
166 Posts
karen
carthage
mo
USA
166 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2005 : 09:18:48 AM
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dear erthdancer-
love your tag line--my house is far from immaculate!! one of my kids said our house looked "lived in"; i think he was saying it looked like dog hair and tea glasses and nursing books and cookie crumbs lived there!!
karen
living' large in MO |
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Erthdancr
Farmgirl in Training
12 Posts
Rebecca
Gregory
Michigan
USA
12 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2005 : 12:29:24 PM
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Hi Karen-
Well...I try to keep "stuff" picked up and the carpets vacuumed, but there's always the odd bead box or fabric or something lying around. There's just too many things I'd rather be doing than dusting...LOL.
Rebecca
An immaculate house is the sign of a wasted life. |
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KarenP
True Blue Farmgirl
666 Posts
Karen
Chippewa Falls
Wisconsin
USA
666 Posts |
Posted - Jul 26 2005 : 3:00:46 PM
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Karen and Rebecca...
Here Here, I just have the two of us and the house looks the whole clan lives here, we both work so much, housework isn't top of the list.
The dust bunnies are pretty large and scary.
KarenP
"Purest Spring Water in the World" |
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sleepless reader
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
CA
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 12:18:46 AM
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I loved playing/sorting in my grandma's button tin. Hers was an old cookie tin of some sort. I have a few buttons she gave me while visiting her, but most of mine have come from yard sales and thrift shops. And I never throw away anything with the buttons still on it. My husband's old shirts go to the rag bin, but the buttons go in the jar. My daughter still loves sorting them. Button sorting is a great pre-reading activity for kids. It helps them discern shapes and sizes.
Maybe we should organize a button exchange like the mail art and just send one button to somebody on the list??? Button, button, who's got the button?
Sharon |
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showmemom
True Blue Farmgirl
166 Posts
karen
carthage
mo
USA
166 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 05:48:17 AM
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LOVE this idea! how do we do this? karen
living' large in MO |
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cecelia
True Blue Farmgirl
497 Posts
cecelia
new york
USA
497 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 08:00:41 AM
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I "collect" all buttons! Had so many at one time I sold a lot of them at a garage sale. Whenever I have something which has worn out, and I'm not giving it away, I cut off the buttons and same them. I even have started looking for new clothes with unusual buttons just so some day I can save the buttons! I was in a craft store recently and saw some unusual pictures, simple ones (hearts, flowers), made by sewing or glueing buttons on paper or cloth, etc. and framing them.
Cecelia
ce's farm
"Curiosity is one of the forms of feminine bravery" Victor Hugo |
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sleepless reader
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
CA
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 12:54:55 PM
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Karen, I'd love to coordinate a button "swap" (?) but don't know how to do this either. Maybe the traveling art gurus can email me with suggestions? How about if you are interested in sending a button on, email me off the forum and I'll put together a list. Include your name, email address and (SNAIL)mailing address. I think that's all we'll need. The art people just say send to people on the list at your leisure, so let's go with that!
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Sharon |
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ladybugsmom6
True Blue Farmgirl
128 Posts
Tami
Horicon
WI
USA
128 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 2:36:28 PM
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I have you ALL beat, I absolutely Love buttons, they have sew many possibilities! (Much to my friends dismay each time we have to move!)I have one old copper kettle (you know the kind Grandma used to wash the babies in!) And at least 5 2qt mason jars filled with buttons! I have some sorted into colors and those into sizes, would you believe that three of them are just white buttons of three different sizes? My husband did some work for an antique dealer who had more buttons than she could use and asked if I could. Well! Of course we can! Boy was my dh surprised when the boxes were brought to him! But of course the supply is never quite complete, So when we hit the local thrift shop, I check out the boxes they have sorted. I even have butttons set aside for future projects, like the four I will put on a sweater I plan to make myself, when I learn to knit beyond kinit and pearl and of course that would mean changing my ways and making something for ME! I love my buttons, the feel of the old shell buttons the glimmer of the pearls! I use some cool knotted buttons on my re-created teddy bears, simple buttons to Tie quilts, fun buttons on my kid's clothes.... sew many things! My kids were out shopping one day and found the perfect book for Mommy, an early reader called The Button Glutton!
They have me pegged and do their best to hold me away from the buttons for sale here and there, but I usually win when I offer to buy them books if I get new buttons!
-Tami
livin' right and loven' life! |
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showmemom
True Blue Farmgirl
166 Posts
karen
carthage
mo
USA
166 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 3:06:02 PM
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hey sharon and all other "button gluttons!"--
i tried to look at your contact info and none is listed. if you want to email me your contact info, i'll start the mailing.
i've just joined the mail art list as well. i love to get mail that's not bills or nursing related!!
and i love the name of that book--the button glutton!! i think that's what the name of our little group should be!
talk to you soon. karen
living' large in MO |
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sleepless reader
True Blue Farmgirl
1022 Posts
CA
USA
1022 Posts |
Posted - Jul 27 2005 : 6:47:55 PM
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Tami...YOU WIN!!
Karen, I'll send my info now. Thanks for taking it on!
Sharon |
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FloralSaucer
True Blue Farmgirl
156 Posts
Australia
156 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 02:18:29 AM
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| I have a button collection. I am glad I kept it because the girls have been to sewing classes and have learnt ways to use them. |
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Kim
True Blue Farmgirl
146 Posts
Kim
Pflugerville
Texas
USA
146 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 05:38:30 AM
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I collect old buttons too! Count me in as soon as I get back from my trip here in Kansas! Myabe I can find some here?!?!
farmgirl@heart
Be at peace with yourself and the rest will follow |
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showmemom
True Blue Farmgirl
166 Posts
karen
carthage
mo
USA
166 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 06:05:14 AM
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for all of you "button gluttons" interested in a button exchange, send me your contact info and i'll put it in a spreadsheet like the mailart and e-mail everyone.
what fun!
talk to you soon!
karen
living' large in MO |
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Photobugs
True Blue Farmgirl
363 Posts
Pamela
Post Falls
Idaho
USA
363 Posts |
Posted - Jul 29 2005 : 3:03:18 PM
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I, too, have jars full of buttons. Each jar has a different color. I got my start when I was just a young bride and would go to the fabric store in Grass Valley, California. The store was called 'Harts.' When you made a purchase you got to take a handful of buttons out of the old bathtub that sat in the front of the store. I did not think much of it then, but now as buttons have gotton more expensive and collectible I realize what I was digging out a handful of treasures.
I also inherited some of my grandmother's buttons and a jar of my mom's after she quit sewing a few years ago. She had sewed our clothes for so many years that she got tired of sewing and got ride of alot of her sewing supplies. She still has her machine, but does not use it much.
I still look for buttons at yard sales, as I can never get enough!
Pamela
"I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice scream!" |
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Stitching & Crafting Room: does anyone collect buttons? |
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does anyone collect buttons?
