Buttons

Last year my bff gave me a Christmas present of buttons. Rather, it was a kit to make decorative buttons. The kit came with fabric to cover the buttons, but I instantly knew I would not use it because I had a stash of my own – Auntie’s fabric.

Auntie was a seamstress and she never threw anything away. She made many clothes and quilts over the years and all the remnants were saved. You name it – she saved it: buttons, needles, thread, fabric, etc. I am especially fond of the box of buttons Auntie spent a lifetime accumulating but fear that Hilda will think I am cuckoo if I ask for it.

I can’t recall when we found it, but a bag of fabric was unearthed by Hilda a few years ago. She was going to throw it out, but I grabbed it and said I would take it. I am not sure why as I can barely sew a button on, but I couldn’t bear to see it go in the trash. Plus it came stored in a very cool ca. 1960s Santa Claus Christmas bag and they don't come around everyday!!

Last Christmas (2011), I put the buttons together while Mom and I sat and waited for our Sultana cake to cook. I took the buttons back to Toronto, bought a frame to put them in at Crate & Barrel, and then everything proceeded to sit on my desk for the next twelve months. The excuse you ask? I needed a glue gun. I pass a Michaels store everyday on my way home from work yet I never seemed to have the energy needed to go after work and purchase the much needed glue gun. Instead it seemed easier to wait until I went to the Island this year for Christmas (2012) to purchase it in my annual Boxing week shopping excursion. Yes, I know – Toronto to PEI and back again. This project has some miles on it.

I’ve only been back from Christmas vacation on the Island for four days but I decided to get at it. I broke out the glue gun, assembled the buttons into a design, and then proceeded to put it all together. Twelve months, twenty-five buttons, two provinces, one burn resulting from the glue gun and whola: