Getting Christmassy ...

The temperature here reached a blistering 43C yesterday - that's around 109 degrees for you Farenheit Folk! It seemed the only sensible thing to do was be inside and stay as still as possible. With Christmas fast approaching I would normally find this is a bit easier said than done but I must getting better at finding my Zen place cos I actually enjoyed doing a whole lot of not moving! Of course I wasn't really idle ... 

The other day I was having one of those pre-Christmas tidying frenzies and was putting away lots of stuff that seemed to have been lurking on every available flat surface for a goodly while. As I went to put some of those old school self- covering buttons in their rightful home, a whole bunch of their cousins leapt out of the cupboard to greet me .... That is to say that the container housing them toppled off the overfilled shelf  and the contents went all over the floor. As I was tsk-tsking at myself and the wilful nature of cupboards that can't properly contain their contents, I had the merry thought that putting those buttons to use would be heaps more fun than just stuffing them back in the cupboard. A bit more scrounging was required to find the scraps of Japanese silks and other yummy bits but I emerged triumphant! I settled comfortably at my kitchen table and happily stitched and covered for ages. All thoughts of Christmas tidiness were readily submerged beneath the snipping rhythm of sewing scissors and the satisfying 'snap' of button backs being slotted into place. Now, what to do with them?

Ah yes - buttons as jewellery! Textiles and jewellery - perfect combo!

I finished them off with some lovely Chyiogami cord and made some pewter beads to hide the joins. A handcrafted 'slider' bead completes the piece an means the necklace can be worn at different lengths. So you see folks there is quite a lot to be said for pre-Christmas tidying up ... particularly if you ignore it and spend your time crafting instead!