When my grandmother passed away this summer, I was the lucky one who inherited all her crafty hordings from her 91 years of life. There are two large boxes sitting in my sewing room/play room full of her fabric, thread, lace, trims, ribbing, patterns-- well, you get the picture. As I was going through these things today, K2 who is almost 5, was helping me sort when we came across a gold colored round tin that was full of buttons (along with several ziplocks full of MORE buttons!). K2 told me they must be Great Grandma's because they smelled like her house. This brought a smile to my face-- that my little one, who only was in Grandma's home a few times, knew the distinct "grandma smell."
I told her that they were indeed Great Grandma's. She then proceeded to sort through all of the buttons, taking out her favorites. "All the pretty and cute ones," she told me. As I watched her sort, it brought back memories of me and my sisters doing very similar things with those exact same buttons. And then I remembered that Grandma told me several times that her boys had played with those same buttons. And then I remembered the story behind those buttons.
At some point in her life, my grandmother worked for some sort of thrift store. When there were clothing items that were donated that they could not sell, she and the other ladies that worked there would tear out the zippers and unpick the buttons to keep for later.
And now, more than 60 years later, her great-granddaughter is sorting through her pretty buttons, saved from thrift store unwanteds. . . Four generations. . . I can't help but smile!
******Note: My mom just corrected me-- this started with my grandmother's mother, making it FIVE generations!!!
5 comments:
That is great! I have some from my grandmother who passed in 1991. Sadly, my daughter never knew her but I will cherish those notions always. That is awesome that K2 remembers the "smell" and will probably one day be doing the same thing with her kids. Jenn
That's wonderful! I love buttons!
When I worked in a costuming dept for a major theme park, that's what we did when dismantling costumes. And, those of us that were fabric addicts would keep bits of the fabrics to make quilts, also.
that is so neat! the circle of life.
I remember going to the craft/fabric store with my mom where they had bins and bins of buttons. I would have to pick out the matches my mom wanted. I loved running my fingers through them!
Your post made me cry...what a precious gift you have recieved :)
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