button, button

I've been looking through my button box this morning. My collection of small buttons used to fit in a tea cup. Here are glass buttons, vintage plastic, Mississippi mother-of-pearl, and 2-hole
bone underwear buttons (my personal favorites). Looking through my mother's button box was a favorite activity of mine when I was a child. These buttons survived the shop fire, and are still my treasure.

toys

I keep a store here, and besides weaving, I sell a small selection of toys, books, and household things. I'm always on the look for that elusive something to add to my shelves.

New oilcloth is a nostalgic summer item that reminds me of Wisconsin summer kitchens, small buildings separate from the farm house, where the canning was done, when the garden was ready. Big screen windows, oil cloth covered shelves, kraut cutters, canning kettles, and farm tables furnished these kitchens. Cotton rag rugs on the linoleum floors.

Today my order from Japan came up the driveway in the mail lady's truck. I've looked for plastic bird whistles, but this one is the best, and also the cutest. Filled with different levels of water, its pitch changes. Blow softly for sweet warbles, puff hard for strident chirping. What a wonderful toy! New animal paper balls also came in the box. A cross between a ball and a balloon, & made of crinkly paper that unfolds, and with a few puffs, inflates to this classic Japanese toy. Monkey, the most popular paper ball, Elephant, and Now--Blue jelly fish! Oh, happy day! When tossing and batting are done, gently refold them and put back in your pocket-- unless you have been playing with Sharp Claws the Cat. They also fit easily into an envelope to mail to amuse someone. Summer!

Plastic!

When the Finland girl mentioned her grandmother's golden plastic coffee bags woven into rag rugs, I remembered my mother telling me, after she had made her first trip to Finland, "Susan, they are saving up golden plastic coffee bags to weave into their sauna rugs. I will never weave plastic in my rugs."

I thought, I might weave plastic in my rugs, and I did. I liked it. Today, I started looking for more white things to tie into my rya weave. Thinking of plastic, I found a woven plastic tarp on my packing shelf that I unwove. Now I have narrow striped pieces, very strong and easy to thread on my needle. When I threaded the first one into the weave I felt a small thrill. There are the plastic ribbons, just after the silk ribbons, the paper and the mohair. It's the mix that excites me. The idea for this was put into my head this morning from someone I don't know, far away in the north.