Lost Buttons

lost buttons
I like to pick up lost buttons on the street. These are the ones I've found so far. I started shortly after moving to Amsterdam. I think one or two may have been picked up while on holiday, but I decided early on that I couldn't be bothered to keep track of where each button was found. I was not surprised to discover that more than half of the buttons I've found are black. There are 3 metal buttons and 2 wooden ones. The purple heart-shaped one is the only non-circle I've found. Do you collect anything unusual?

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

The time flies by...

Fabric Market Finds

The days have been busy and tiring lately. I've been pondering making a quilt for the Wee Lass and have acquired some new fabric to this end. I'm not sure when I thought I'd have the time or energy, but we shall see...


More Fabric!

I also repaired a bonnet. The old ribbon ties were coming off so I knit a chin strap and added a button from my Jar of Vintage Buttons.


Baby Bonnet Repair

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Fabric Flower Pin

Look what I made! Following this tutorial, I made this pretty, tailored flower pin.


Fabric Flower Pin

It seems a little top heavy for a brooch (maybe I need to pin it with the pin vertical?), but it's definitely cute pinned onto a bag. I just have to figure out how to not squash it when the bag is in use!


Flower Pin on Purse

I made it out of some of the same grey shirt that I used for the bunny and for lining one of my pocket purses. The button in the middle is out of my jar of vintage buttons.


Fabric Flower Pin

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Colour!

Lovely Colours

Colour makes me absurdly happy. I love seeing colourful displays of art supplies. Picking out favourites and making arrangements of colours gives me a silly high. I guess it's being a visual person, but sometimes I think it's not normal how excited I get by stack of colourful yarn, fabric, or pencil crayons. (And then I read blogs by other yarn and fabric fanatics and know I'm not alone in my nuttiness).


Pots of Pencils

When I go into an art store, I love looking through the displays of pencil crayons. Pens and paints are also fun to choose, but it's the pencil crayons that always get me most giddy. At the yarn store I love seeing a wall full of luscious colours. Same thing at the fabric store. I'm especially keen on quilting stores where the goodies are arrayed by colour instead of type. Oh and buttons too, of course.


blue button square

Yup, organize a bunch of artsy crafty supplies by colour and I go a bit bananas. That visual stimulation is something I like in small doses in my home, so my current style favours a lot of plain white walls and furniture with my favourite colours introduced through textiles like quilts and cushions. Things I can have the fun of making!


Stacks of Fabric

I love arranging tidy stacks of fabric and pots of colour coordinated pencil crayons. But until recently, I never had too many colours of yarn before. My star garland project changed that and wow was it fun to sit by the shelf of yarn and pick out a rainbow of colours. It was hard to stop. It's been similarly hard to stop crocheting the stars as I keep getting to dip into my stash of yarn to pick out a new colour.


Rainbow Stars

Photographs and artwork by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Button-y Goodness

blue and green buttons

Last Saturday was a button-shopping trip with a friend. I said it last time and it's still true; digging through the button trunk at Rubans Boutons is like sifting through jewels in a treasure chest. They're now up on St-Hubert in the fabric district, so not such a neighbourhood treat, but it's still just $4 for a medium bag of selected buttons. I got 2 this time, and managed to cram in over 550 buttons.


pink and purple buttons

I had a great deal of fun sorting my buttons after I'd washed them. I now have 3 jars full, including some that my Mom gave me from the family button tin. After spending a couple hours digging through buttons, it's easy to forget exactly what you've chosen. I always find it satisfying to sort by colour. Perhaps it's something to do with being a visual person, but I've always like sorting my pencil crayons or selecting new colours of pencil crayons. Is that just me? Certainly for me, the same appears to be true of buttons.


white and brown buttons

There were some nice surprises of ones that matched buttons I'd selected the last time (as well as some I remembered and specifically chose for that reason). I'm looking forward to dreaming up projects for buttons. Maybe part of mixed media pieces? Or sewn in patterns to make my clothes more quirky? Or used to make button jewellery? Unlike my more disciplined friend, I did not go with much real purpose other than the delight of scooping through pretty buttons. So I just picked and chose where my eye was drawn.


pink button square

I mostly chose within my preferred spectrum of blue, green, and purple, though a bit of red and pink were also included. I did have my eye out for a variety of white and cream buttons with a view to a monochromatic project with the variation in texture of different buttons for interest. Oh, the multitude of possibilities is delightful.


Photographs by Allison Gryski. © All rights reserved.

Buttons Galore

buttons
Originally uploaded by allisongryski
There is this wonderful button shop on St-Denis. It's on the West side of the street if you go North from Mont Royal until you get there. That's how my friend Taylor and I found it when we went on Thursday. I've no idea what it's actually called but signs in the window say "boutons" and "ruban" which is precisely what they carry. Best of all, there's a big trunk FILLED with loose buttons. And you can dig through it to fill little bags. If you just scoop out a lucky-dip bag, then it's half the price (or rather, if you select buttons individually it's double the price). I got a medium bag of pick-and-choose for $4 and selected these lovelies:




You can see more pictures of my new button stash in my newly created Crafty Materials set. A rough count is about 250 buttons ... no wonder we spent more than an hour in the shop and I barely looked at anything else they had. Scooping through that trunk of buttons was as satisfying to the senses as sifting through a treasure chest of coins and jewels.