Still Life of Buttons
Now that we are caretaking, Paul and I have really reduced the amount of “stuff” in our lives. Still, there are some things that provide enough comfort to warrant schlepping cross-country (several times over, in my case). We both have a bit of a book fetish. Maybe one of these days we will learn to appreciate reading via Kindle but I really, truly doubt it.
I collect other stuff also, like beads, cards, essential oils, and photos, of course! Stuff that takes up a lot less space than books.
Now, for some reason, I am finding myself really drawn to buttons. Not quite sure what started it. Maybe the button Emily sewed on the purse she made me before we left for the Cape. Or was it before that? I have always liked buttons, but never in an addictive type way. Now, I feel I need more buttons in my life. I don’t know what I will do with them once I have them but am positive an amazing project will indeed present itself.
And you, what do you collect? You can answer this question even if I already know – it will make it more fun for the group! And, speaking of fun, you have three more days to comment on a January blog to qualify for the drawing of the mystery prize…
I too have a button box. It started with my mothers buttons, then my grandmother’s and great aunts….. now whenever I need a button I know I have one…. and like you I just love them, even tho’ I’m not sure why.
I may have to ask the women in my family if they would be willing to part with a few buttons, Denise! Do you sew?
I used to have a thing for buttons too. I once glued a ton of buttons to a terracotta pot and made a mosaic sort of thing out of it.
Currently I collect shoe boxes, not actively seeking them out, but once I have one I cannot throw it away! I also can’t seem to throw away packing supplies. There is a bit of pack rat in me.
So tempted to send you a shoebox : ) I do have something to send you – it is currently part of another collection I have – stuff to send to people that can’t be sent until I have just one more thing I have been meaning to add to said stuff…
I have a collection of Papago hand weaved baskets, 4 large (12″ dia)baskets and 3 tiny ones that were weaved with horse hair. The tiny basket measure 1/2″!
Also have totes full of quilting fabric from when I had time to quilt. May have to start up again while the weather is so cold- it serves as a great lap warmer when quilting the layers together.
Biggest collection would probably be beads, findings, chain..
Great topic Valynne!
My mom made me a quilt twenty years or so ago that is on our bed now. I love it. She has material to make a CO quilt, too! Maybe by the time it is completed we will be back in CO – at least for a sit…
I never saw the tiny baskets! And I only happened to find out what findings were while browsing the aisles at Michaels. I only browse aisles sans Paul – he is allergic to craft type stores.
Happy to say he loves book stores – sure miss Hearthfire Books and Tattered Cover. I have been to a couple of small bookshops here – Titcombs in East Sandwich is my favorite so far.
i will NEVER be a kindle user. you read right, never. i still like to ‘turn’ the pages and i love the way books smell still. i ♥ to read and a good thing that we frequent the library. i’m reading TWO books per month this year, already done with one.
ah collections, i have an odd collection of spools. the vintage kind. now i’m not sure what to do with them as we try to declutter and purge.
my hubby’s nickname is button. love me some buttons.
hugs v!
I love the way books smell also…when I lived in CT I spent many an evening in the attic/loft of Gertrude and Alice’s (books and cafe). I found coffee combined with old books and the hum of people and river (Farmington)to be quite comforting.
How did you get into collecting spools?
My Dad called me button when I was wee…his letters always began with “Hi Button!” Is hubsters nickname Button as in “cute as a”?
I always said i would never be a kindle user. However, I just spent 10 days on the beach and read 4 books. Books i read average 1.5 lbs and are 9″x6″. All 4 (plus a draft in PDF of a novel a friend is shopping to agents) went in my smaller-than-a-paperback Sony eReader. So that was almost 5 lbs and 200 square inches that I DIDN’T use jet fuel to fly to the beach.
Will that replace real books? Yeah, right – in the room I sit now there are over 100 books surrounding me and on my desk is a Tattered Cover gift card just begging to be used. But is it useful tech? Heck yes.
Yes, it does make sense from an eco standpoint…but a house just aint a home without books.
So, maybe that is the way to go…take the kindle on trips and come home to the books like you just did.
But what about when a passage speaks to you and you want to say something back or mark it in some way?
And some books have been there for me since I was a girl (Little Women, Pride and Predjudice, The Outsiders, The Book of Knomes) and just seeing them brings comfort.
I just don’t know…speaking of books…how goes?
“…But what about when a passage speaks to you and you want to say something back or mark it in some way?”
With the eReader I can make notations to my heart’s desire. Even in my own handwriting (with stylus). Highlighting, etc also available. However, if I found myself making more than one or two marks in a book, i would go buy the hard copy, as that would obviously be a keeper.
In my opinion, literature is one thing, books are another. I think the movie “Midnight Cowboy” is literature, but it’s not a book. But while the Sarah Palin monstrosity (“Going Rabid”?) is a book, the excerpts I’ve seen are barely functionally literate, much less literature.
That said, I love books. I have books from my childhood that came from my mother’s childhood – all the original Trixie Belden mysteries! Manly, huh? Anyway, just the sight of the spine on the shelf brings back a torrent of memories. Sitting on an old porch glider as the rain thrums against the tin roof, turning the pages excitedly just as my mother did 25 years before.
As far as my book, it’s coming along. Holidays tend to stifle my ability to concentrate, but I’m back at it once again.
I thought of you while lugging my books to and fro NYC, Sean! Of course, we returned with more than we arrived with…but only a couple more.
Had to Google Trixie Belden (manly, indeed teehee) and now I am eager to see Midnight Cowboy again…now that I am (somewhat) older and wiser.
Did CJ or Santhy ever read the Trixie Beldens?
Glad to hear you are back on track – the Holidays are tough when it comes to flow…so many distractions!
The good news is some distractions magically morph themselves into inspirations…