Winter's Over, Spring is Here

It's been some time since I have added info to this blog - February, March and April were full of button adventures, and NBS duties. And of course some horrible weather here in the east as well.

I had made plans to attend the button auction in Florida, but the weather cancelled my flight. Bad news. However, I always look for the bright side, and good news - it saved me a bundle of bucks! If you saw my button room, you would wonder why I would even think about buying more buttons. Most of you understand, it is an addiction - buttons being the drug!

I was unable to attend the Indiana show, had to stay home with family concerns, but all is well.

Johnson made it to show, and was happy to be able to see all our button buddies.

I had the opportunity to see an 18 button set of 18th century buttons, painted on Ivory with metal rims and glass covers. All of the scenes were different - pastoral themes - a woman milking a cow, and boy and his dog playing ball, couple looking longingly into one another's eyes, etc. Once the owner of the set is able to scan them, I hope to be able to share some pictures. What a treat to see them. Interestingly enough, the backs were ivory with a brass loop shank. Interesting and unusual construction too.

Of course, we had our Pennsylvania button show in a new location this time - a lovely Quality Inn in Meyerstown, PA. It is close to Lebanon, and the hotel was a 100% improvement over the last place. Great lighting in the showroom, terrific food in the hotel. Now, if we could just get the attendance up, it would be perfect.

I have just returned from the Ohio Button Show - and it was FANTASTIC! They certainly know how to do it up. Attendance was booming, enthusiasm was very high, and the program was wonderful. Dr. Maggie Whitson's programs about flowers on buttons was a real eye opener. And to top it all off, the program was held at Ohio State in conjuction with a display of buttons from the collection of Ann Rudolph, along with Flora and Fauna in Fashion and Buttons. Simply amazing. Ohio State is a great resource for information about buttons, and is available to the public for research purposes. You can make arrangements with the Costume department if you want to view the buttons or their fabulous costume collection. There was an absolutely outstanding 18th Century coat in the exhibit, complete with fabric embroidered buttons. Worth the trip all by itself!

Preparations are going well for Manchester. Certainly hope you will be able to attend the National Button Society Convention August 1 thru 8, 2010.

Do you have a friend in your button club that is not on the computer? Jim Krzycki of Nebraska is putting together a pen pal group, matching people of like interest who might want to stay in touch via letter writing. He is listed in your directory, so make sure you let your button friend know that this is an option. In this day of technology to the max, we want to make sure that we do not forget those that are not computer literate.

The on-line chat group 0 Buttonbytes, has reported on some interesting web sites, linked to museums, international clubs, etc. We hope to compile this list for you soon, and present some of these links to the nbs website. If you have any information, please email me at btns@comcast.net Annie Frazier