A great button find......

The initial roses I did were too "pinky pink" so I redid them all in a more antique rose and added them.. 

It all looks rather disjointed now but the next step are lots of blues and purples which will bring it all together.  At the end will be some white sprays of flowers as accents.

The very last step is the spiders...




I started going through my old metal buttons looking for some that had floral images and found this one about the size of a quarter.  When I was polishing it I noticed an engraving on the back.... extra superfine Scovills.  So I looked on Google and found that if it says Scovills/ extra superfine it would date it around 1827-1840 and it was probably a ladies coat button.  It is a two part button with a heavy shank.. It will definitely find a place on the bag.

Vintage shoe buttons save the day...

 

When I do a large floral area such as this I attach the flowers one color at a time.  I start with the medium size flowers and then the larger one and finish filling in with the small one and accent stitching..

Here the yellow are the medium.  You might notice I added some colored lace besides the green leaves previously added. 







And if you hadn't been reading when I was working on this last spring.... after the flowers were made I misted them lightly  and put them in the book press for a couple days.  I was aiming to get the "smashed" look of vintage millinery flowers.  I'm not sure if I'm succeeding but still forging ahead.

My secondary goal for this project is to use a goodly amount of my most precious buttons that I have collected.  That includes the black glass and vintage metal buttons leftover from the suffrage quilt.  I keep my these buttons in these vintage office flat files... unlike all the other buttons kept in large jars in the barn.  Just below is my entire supply of seed beads.

I also want to use the last of my buttons I bought in London several years ago.  Lower right in this picture is a card of shoe buttons I bought in a tiny (and I mean micro tiny) button shop on Portobello Road.  I was told they were dyed bone but when I was removing the pin shanks one looked like dyed MOP.

I've already used all the ones I bought at "The Button Queen" which was a very upscale shop that took me forever to find.



I loved the subtle color of the shoe buttons and they are perfect centers for the yellow flowers. If you look closely at the larger picture above you will see that each one is a different color.

Buttons out of control

I love to paint in miniature on buttons.  It is something I can do under my super magnifying lamp and I can get totally absorbed in doing it. Its relaxing and satisfying and I wanted to get back into doing it regularly.

  But I had barely painted for over a year and lost control of the whole process. Selling on Etsy really stretches my limits to stay disciplined and organized.

Just keeping track of an inventory of items as small as buttons was a challenge from the very
beginning.  I tried sectioned storage boxes, flat trays, plastic bags and they all left me frustrated.  But I finally found a workable solution.

This was a hanging earring organizer and it has worked really well. I can get 10-15 buttons into each pocket and find them easily.  The buttons don't get to this stage until they are posted on Etsy so you can see that I had very little inventory on line...pitiable little!
On the back side of this I have a hanging  shoe organizer with all the mailing supplies.

It's not that I didn't  have buttons...  I had little trays of  them everywhere in every stage if completion. Many were just drawn in pencil and others were partially completed.  I usually work in batches of five and would start a batch and get side tracked and start another batch.  I had literally stacks of trays of incomplete buttons.

Then I had trays of completed buttons just waiting to be put on Etsy which requires scanning, formatting, resizing, and the Esty red tape... all very time consuming.  They also need signing, shanks attached, put in tiny plastic bags and inventoried. 

Often I find a tray at some stage of this process and I can't remember just where or what I was doing with them.  Now I try to remember to leave a sticky note on the tray to help me.

Then there are all the odd piles that materialize while I am sleeping or in the shower.  There's always odd buttons on my desk and I can never remember how or why they are there.






And another pile on the upper left of  my painting

table..these are usually there because I am unhappy with some little detail and want to fix it... But I seldom remember what it was I was unhappy with by the time I get around to looking at the buttons.

I usually work in two or three batches at a time to use the same paint palette.  Here is a current batch of hummingbird in process.  It take about 5-7 days to finish a batch from sketching to sealing.

Then I have a pile in a basket from the last time I sold at a booth and they are still on cards.  I need to get them off and online.

I figured if I did nothing else for an entire week I could get it all under control again.  Well I did it for an entire week and now I am just finished the second week and realize that with luck and perseverance  I will be lucky to be able to accomplish this goal by the end of the year. 

I know you have noticed how often I admit I don't remember... I recently stocked up on sticky notes at the dollar store and am using them all the time now.  I have added a lot of buttons to the Etsy but have many more to go..  After the holidays stop by the shop and take a look. https://www.etsy.com/shop/olderrose  Once I get things back in order I can start painting valentine and spring motifs...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND FEED THE BIRDS!!

Lily's portrait on a button

Beloved Lily is Nicki Lee's theme for CQJP2017 and she had me paint her portrait on a button... Have you ever seen a dog with such a happy smile.  It kept me smiling as I painted it... The portrait is on a antique 2" MOP button.

I'm so grateful I can still paint on buttons... In  fact it is the only stress-free  hobby I have now...  The only really useful vision I have left is the peripheral vision in my left eye.. and it is nearly impossible to keep anything focused as either things or my head shifts.  But because the size of a button is such a small field of vision and I can keep it both it and my head still, I can still enjoy painting....or course the large magnifying lamp is a godsend..

Just the buttons you were waiting for!

I finally got some of the new buttons posted and there are more to follow..   Lots of critters... check them out..

https://www.etsy.com/shop/olderrose

 

The trip to Seattle was scary... The roads that the weather service said were rainy and clear were so bad that they closed the pass for three days just after we crossed.  Thinking we could go south to Portland and then inland, we found it was closed due to an ice storm - 4 days.  We were stranded   and finally went north to Stevens Pass and got across and drove forever in dense fog....so glad to be home.

 

 

 

 

Painting again!!

It has been months since I've painted buttons and it felt good to be doing it again... To get going I have been adding some new critters and my favorite is the fawn.  These buttons are a little larger than a quarter... 1 1/8".  I have many more that will be going up over the next week.

They are available at https://www.etsy.com/shop/olderrose

 

 

 I can see well enough with my newest lamp.  But actually it's the hand rather than the eye that is critical.. People are always saying it must take very good eyes to paint so small but what is critical is a VERY steady hand...  Also the brain compensates for what the eye can't see and communicates with the hand..   If you were to take a pen and paper you would find you can write your name very well with your eyes completely closed. The brain "sees" what the hand is doing. Have you ever done those exercises where letters are all jumbled and you can still read the text...? It is the same principal.  So even with my distorted vision I'm finding that I can do it... But even still the most important thing is the steady hand...without that all is naught. 

And where have I been....

Pinterest is always sending pins that I might want to see.  I used to look at all the CQ ones.  But all of us who CQ tend to collect all the same images and our pin sites are very similar and you see the same needlework   over and over.

But today this image popped up on a site.  I was first drawn in by the striped borders with the buttons irregularly placed and the more I studied it the more I was fascinated.  I will never look at buttons the same again..   This work was done by internationally recognized artist, Nancy Smeltzer but I had never seen her work. 

I have to admit to being a button snob and never give kitschy plastic buttons a second look but just look at them here.

I had to immediately google her work and here are some more images...  Enjoy as I'm off to dig through my boxes of buttons..  

January CQJP and coveted buttons

I have finished the "crème d la crème" part of the block and it is ready for the gold

work bird which I am anxious to start.  Please notice the delightful little pearl square buttons lower left.  They were on a jacket belonging to my friend, Marilyn Lipmann.  For about  3 years every time she wore that jacket I followed her around with my scissors.  She finally tired of either the jacket or me (or both) and let me have the buttons.  There were several dozen and I adore them.

 

I left the basting lines in the photo.  The outer red is the size of the block and the inner  one is where I stop beading.

Special buttons

 When I posted the assembled corset books I forgot to point out the very special buttons holding all the pages together.














Years ago I bought these buttons on Ebay.  They were on the original card and their origin was the USA zone of Germany so they can easily be dated to right after WW2 .  They are molded glass with a mirrored backing.  I have tried many times to use them but they always have been too glitzy or too large..  But I have found the perfect home for them and still have a five left.

She lives!!!! and cottages finally....

I can take my arm out of the sling for part of the day and the splint is off my hand so I can stitch and hopefully paint again soon... almost 2 weeks since the accident.  I can probably mop the kitchen soon also as it certainly needs it.   These are a few of the cottages I did just before the accident and just now getting them all posted on Etsy.

More UFOs

Several years ago in one of my less lucid moments (and there have been many) I made a slipcover for my ratty old desk chair.  I used a white bedspread.  It was absolutely gorgeous at the beginning but easily  soiled with use and every time I washed it, it became grungier and grungier... So a new slipcover has been on my list a LONG time..  I kept bringing in pieces of fabric from the barn and draping it on the chair to decide which I would  use...  This photo was taken in November 2012 when the selection process started and have now ended with a different piece entirely...  DH is out of town for 5 days and this has moved to the top of my list.  In fact I am washing the tapestry fabric at this very moment...not only to preshrink it but to give it an aged look.


Also in this vein of getting organized I think I have finally solved the problem of keeping track of my buttons that I paint.  I have used baggies, envelopes, and various containers but all have been so inconvenient when an order comes in.  I needed something I could find buttons quickly and have handy when I needed it.

 Since my inventory of hand painted buttons is so low at this time,  I figured that now was the ideal time to come up with a solution.. hopefully the final solution and I think I have.

Years ago I bought this wall thingy with 100 pouches for earrings but I never really used it and even tried to give it away once on this blog. But now I'm so glad I kept it... I alphabetized the list of buttons I usually paint and made labels for the pockets.

Then I went to my magic barn and found this vintage rolling rack that I vaguely remember women used when they ironed.  I have two and used to use them for display in booths at shows...of course I never get rid of anything and this project proves why.




I hung the pockets (shortened a bit) on one side and on the back side I hung a shoe holder in which I keep shipping supplies... labels, envelopes, tapes, etc. I can roll it next to the desk when I need it and out of the way when its not needed.  I have been using it now for about a month and it is going to be the best solution..  There are a few little things to tweek but I'm happy with it.... plus I've been able to "upcyle" three things to make them useful again and that is always a plus in my book.

Note: this is just for my hand painted buttons... All the CQ buttons are in bags, drawers,  and jars...

More American songbirds from the Singer series.

I just finished a few more birds in the series of American song birds put out on advertising cards by Singer Sewing Machines around the turn of the century. There were 14 birds in the series and some I will probably not do again as I tend to only paint birds from my garden...

All  buttons are hand painted by me and there are no transfers. They are meant for decorative or collective purposes and are not washable.. Each finished button received several coats of an acyrilic sealer to protect them. They are lovely on needlework and made into jewelry

New Cats in New Hats

New cats in new hats..... I don't do cats often but I love giving them Victorian bonnets and I will have them all up by tomorrow.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/olderrose?ref=hdr_shop_menu

A Bunch of Bunnies and Sweet Chicks Too!

I've added some bunnies and chicks for spring...

 

Mother Update: I want to thank everyone who has sent emails of concern and prayers. My mother is dying a very slow and painful death.  I didn't think she would make it through last weekend but she has rallied slightly and is tenaciously clinging to life and every minute is a struggle.  I continue my vigil and so grateful for the hospice helpers.  Most everything in my life is on hold and I make no commitments and go day by day..

Painting and Sadder Note - post # 1496

This is one of the new buttons I've painted with my new lens.  Keeping in mind that this button is only a tad larger than 1", look at the detail in the basket. 

While I'm waiting for Nikki's blocks I have been painting and painting and painting...  flowers, owls, cats, frogs and ladybugs on parade.  They are in various stages of completion and then need to be sealed (which takes 3 days) so it will be a few days before they are posted.  I do not often paint cats.  I have a problem with cats...they all end up looking like dogs...

And if you do any craft or art work that required acrylic paints I have a great tip for you.. For years I used wooden skewers as  stirrers until I discovered that the cup stoppers from Starbucks are the best thing EVER...

I put out the word and everyone is saving them for me and I have a lifetime supply because they are easily wiped off and reusable...  The little flat knob at the bottom is perfect for getting just that small dab of paint...

Now the sad note! I planted this place for wildlife and it brings me great joy and I am perfectly fine with nature taking its course.  We are not overwhelmed with deer but we have them daily eating up the apples, and other fruit.  I love watching them day-to-day and have favorites. 

This year it was a beautiful doe who brought her fawn when it could barely hobble.  They have been in the garden every day fattening up for winter and to drink from the heated water pan we put out for them when it is freezing.

Here it is this morning cleaning up the sunflowers seeds the birds drop... It had been alone for 2 days and when I drove home from taking care of my mother yesterday  I saw the doe ... dead...  hanging from a hook in front of my neighbor's garage  If you remember a while back I was walking in my forest and heard a whiz/click and found a motion camera hidden in MY trees focused on MY trail on MY land.  Yep.. that same neighbor.   The same one who sits on his deck and shoots at owls, hawks and anything that moves... We tried to make this a no-shooting zone but couldn't get enough support.

The fawn eats a bit and spends the rest the day standing at the gate watching for it's mother...  Without mom it will be easy for the coyotes to pick it off..  Makes my heart so sad.

Birds and cottages....

These are for the back of the jacket... My goal was to have 6 more done (besides these) by the end of the week.  I'm not going to make it but will be close enough that I can jump right back into doing seams knowing I will have enough birds...  The birds are so much fun to pop into my bag and go,,, I'm working on a chickadee and an owl right now....and a nuthatch and mourning dove will be next.. I still haven't found the house finch.

 

I have been busy painting buttons which is always hard to find time for.  My eyes can't be tired, I have to be calm and relaxed,  and I need an uninterrupted stretch time... Hard to get all three at once...but I did get cottages and haunted houses done and am working on some birds and Santas... Usually if I am calm and relaxed, I'm asleep.  It's not something I can do while jumping up to take care of other chores.

 

When the buttons go on it's almost done

When I do crazy quilting there is a specific order...piecing, laces, trims, embroidery, beads and the final step is the buttons.. So when you see me adding the buttons you know it's almost done.  I've been collecting the buttons for my women's suffrage quilt for 3 years.  They are mostly vintage metal and black glass.

I have been doing buttons all week...hundreds of them.

To see the final stages go to http://olderrose.blogspot.com/2014/01/plans-are-shaping-up-for-border.html

I'm hopeless

I promised myself resolutely, irrevocably, that I would not start another project OR even think about another project, until the suffrage quilt was done.  But alas I have failed again and am a wimp of major proportion (literally).

 Last Saturday my CQ stitchers met here and brought their collections of hankies which were amazing.  I had wanted to save mine until after the suffrage quilt and use that fabulous table cover which is good sized... But then I thought "maybe just a little piece".............. but then again how many hanky quilt will I do.  I had better do the table cover to begin with... Sooooooooooo  I got it out, pressed it, and added the fusible tricot to the back of the linen...

I placed hoop there to get a feel for the size of center motif I want to do... This is really an incredible piece of vintage linen and I love being able to get it out of the bin.

Last spring I painted some buttons for Valentine's Day which had a heart of forget-me-knots.  At the time I thought would be fun to do something similar in embroidery and ribbon work.  It would make a great focal point for the hankies and wouldn't take long... And of course I have been wanting to do bluebirds and I can do them off block and add after my suffrage quilt is really done.... Cathy K posted some ribbon bluebirds on Pinterest that made me want to do them.  In fact I may add 4-5 bluebirds

When I sorted my hankies I had a LOT of hearts and roses.  I don't really want a Valentine quilt but I do want to aim for romantic.

So since a central focal point will be on a vintage damask napkin, it will be easy to tote about and the actually attaching the hankies can wait until after the suffrage quilt.

This piece of counted cross-stitch which I stitched almost 40 years ago will definitely be my inspiration.  And I'm off and running AGAIN!!!

Most dogs would  be grateful just to be allowed on the couch... But Morris has to rearrange all the pillows and blankets on the couch every time he wants to nap there.