Monday, March 11, 2013

Buttons & Grandkids

I attended my DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) meeting today - and our program was about BUTTONS!  Our speaker was very knowledgable and I learned a lot!  She told a story of how buttons were probably invented by cave women who wanted to bind leather around their children and utilized a hole in the leather and a piece of bone.  Have you ever wondered about the history of the common button? She passed around cards of buttons and as an artist and craftsperson, I found them wonderful and fascinating, each a little work of art and history!  This first card were metal military buttons.  Such pretty etched and stamped designs!
A close-up - isn't it beautiful?
Another card of military buttons.
I also learned something I did not know, about "Dorset Buttons" - click HERE to learn more.  Buttons were handmade by many and were a good source of income for those in Dorset, until a machine was made to make buttons, wiping out jobs for hundreds.
A wonderful assortment of vintage hand made Dorset buttons.  They are gorgeous!
These are interesting satiny buttons. 
A close-up.
These are printed plastic buttons with fun designs.

These are "underwear" buttons.. mostly of bone. 
A card of pink printed buttons.
A clan button. 
There was once a fad of collecting buttons for girls. 

This is just one button on a card of buttons - all had been identified on the woman's collection of where the button had come from and which family member it belonged to.  This is a MOP (mother-of-pearl) button engraved with pretty design.  These are still being made today and I have a small collection of these types of MOP buttons. 
These were commemorative buttons - I photographed this one as my Dad was on Iwo Jima during WWII.  I think these were made by Wedgewood. 
This group of buttons were inlaid with MOP and sterling silver - they were gorgeous!  Do you collect buttons?   
This is the egg salad we made the other day - I just love the dark yellow yolks from our chickens who are cage free and happy. 
My sweetie has spend several days raking up leaves and cleaning up the yard after a winter full of wind and tree debris piling up around the farm.  He started a fire in our burn pile.  I drove the Dodge pickup - it's a 1 ton, 3500 diesel 4WD dual rear wheels - while he used the pitch fork to load his piles into the back, then he jumped into the back and rode to the burn pile.   
Our youngest son, Travis, brought his family out to visit for a while and pick up our utility trailer to borrow.  We had a fun visit while they were here.  The 3 and 4 year old grandsons got a little cold so I invited them to join me in the warm pickup cab along with the dog.  Here is 3 yr old Caleb cuddling with the dog. 
After hubby and the boys unloaded the leaves and debris on the fire, Hayden helped him pick up more piles of debris.  Our farmhouse from the end where our den is where Dayle and I spend our time - the bay window is right behind our chairs so we always have lots of sunlight. 
Farmer Dayle and Hayden, 4.  He's a helper!
I adore this photo of the dog giving Caleb a kiss. 
Boys and dog.. :-) 
My boys. 
The baby of the family.  Cute, eh? 
My daughter posted a photo of my granddaughters on facebook enjoying the snow, just a week ago!
4 days later the snow was gone and it was warm and they were playing in the yard in shorts!  I'm so excited as they are coming to Oregon to visit this summer for a few weeks!  :-) 
Dayle told me he's taking me out for dinner tonight, isn't he a sweetheart?  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)  

22 comments:

  1. Lovely photo's of your grandchildren, you must be proud. And happy that your daughter will come and stay in the summer. Never knew there was so much to tell about buttons, very interesting. And have a nice dinner tonight. Groetjes, Gerda

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  2. Wow!!! I think the buttons are fascinating. Thank you for sharing with us. They are all beautiful and so are their stories. As usual the grand kids pictures are adorable.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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  3. Your grandkids are adorable! Wow, that button exhibition is incredible, I would have loved to see it in person. Thank you for sharing all about it.

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  4. Gorgeous grandkids and so exciting the girls are coming for a visit! Such an amazing collection of buttons. That man of yours is wonderful ☺

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  5. I had no idea that buttons could be that elaborate---beautiful!
    Ahh! Your grandkids are SO cute---I am thrilled that you will soon be seeing your granddaughters too(another reason to hope summer comes quickly).
    Blessings, Aimee

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  6. Those buttons are so fascinating! Such stories to go along with them!! I would have also enjoyed that meeting today.
    Loved the photos of the boys helping Grandpa with the yard work. We also do a burn when we have a lot of dried debris.
    SO, SO excited for you to have your sweet girls for a few weeks in the summer! Where did you go for dinner?
    XO Kris

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    1. We went to Red Lobster and had coconut shrimp with pina colada dip.. yum. :-)

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  7. Just when I think you could not possibly produce a more wonderful post than the wonderful posts you have already produced, you do, Teresa! Thanks for the beautiful and interesting information about buttons! My collection of buttons consists of buttons I like the color and shape of, but I have no sense of their history accept for some of the anchor imprinted buttons that my husband had on his Navy work shirts 42 years ago.
    The girls' winter/spring pictures are great, and I think you should frame and display the picture of your men :-)
    Hope you had a yummy dinner :-)
    xx,
    Gracie

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  8. Beautiful Buttons! Great to see them all. How exciting that your granddaughters are coming to visit ;0) Have a great week,
    Jane x

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  9. Wow, those buttons are fab. As a frequent visitor to Dorset, I am lucky to be able buy examples very cheaply, still made by local ladies for sale at the W.I. market.
    Hen x

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  10. I would think a talk about buttons would not be very interesting, but my goodness you made me stop and think, fascinating. Lovely that the senator honoured his pledge and forked out all that money to the girls! I love your farm, it looks just how I imagine an American farm to look, especially the red barn. A lot of hard work but enjoyable. Fiona

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  11. Buttons! I LOVE buttons! Have always had a box of buttons sitting around. Used to play with my grandmother's stash of buttons...loved that old tin box! And my hubby has similar memories with buttons in his family! Mine aren't as interesting as what you've shown here, however. But it's still a fun box of goodies. Your photos of the kids (and your precious pooch) in the truck are adorable!!!!! I bet you'll have a blast with the girls this summer! They must love visiting! A fun adventure!!!! Can I come too? LOL Hugs, Annette

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  12. i love buttons and so enjoyed your post - fascinating. Your grandchildren are growing up - just like mine time goes so quickly. love Anne x

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  13. Oh my! I'm going to have to share this with my mother in law. She collects buttons and has an amazing collection. I know you are just counting the days until those girls get there. You are going to be in heaven aren't you?

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  14. I fascinated by buttons - my favorites are mother of pearl and bakelite buttons. There is the tiniest little shop in NYC called Tender Buttons. Amazing. And expensive!

    xo
    Claudia

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  15. Wow, who'd have thought there was so much to learn about those little things we love to swoon about! The card with the pink buttons is my favourite, so cute! x

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  16. Such beautiful buttons! I never knew there were commemorative buttons. I have a button jar, but nothing I have is very fancy. I used to love to play with all the buttons in my mother's button jar.

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  17. Amazing buttons Teresa and your grand kids no other word can describe Bette Ethan GORGEOUS...they are soooooo cute !

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  18. The collection of buttons is fantastic. I took a class and made my own Dorset buttons a couple of years ago. Nothing as intricate as some of those you showed, of course. But it was a fun project. Things used to be made with such attention to detail. It's a shape when everything becomes mass produced and loses its uniqueness. So crazy when there is snow one day and then everyone is in shorts the next. We are already getting warm over here -- high 80's some days. Definitely running the a/c already. Have a great day. Tammy

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  19. Fascinating button post, Teresa. I adore buttons and this was soooo interesting to me....wonderful photos too!
    Wishing you a happy week.
    Helen x

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  20. Very interesting about all those fabulous buttons. They are so gorgeous. Love all the pictures of the boys, they too are gorgeous.
    And the little girls are growing up, I bet you are counting down the days until they arrive.
    Hugs to you,
    Meredith

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  21. Tammy shared your post with me and I'm so glad she did! What a fabulous story about all those wonderfully-preserved buttons! I recently re-posted about the 2010 button show I attended -- you must come and take a look! Also, join us over on buttonfloozies.blogspot.com for more button lover heaven!! <3

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