Grandma's Buttons Memorial Shadowbox

[petunya]

My grandmother was a dressmaker who collected beautiful buttons. She would buy garments at garage sales and bring them home...only to cut the buttons off and throw away the clothing!
When she became too frail to live alone and moved out of her house, she made sure that her collection of buttons went to me. I had cherished them since childhood, spending hours digging through them, selecting my favorites and stringing them on yarn to make fancy necklaces for dress-up.
For nearly 10 years, those buttons moved around the country and the world with me. I would occasionally use a few for a project, but for the most part, I felt they were too precious to 'waste'.
At age 96, Gram passed away and I grieved, avoiding her button buckets in my sewing room. One day, I finally opened them and burst into tears, sifting through them while remembering dresses she wore, coats she made for me and cardigan sweaters that she would wrap me in on cold Minnesota days. And I decided that I should share the buttons with my mom and her sisters.
I made five of these button wreaths, framing them in deep shadowbox frames. I attached the buttons to classic black silk moire taffeta (Gram LOVED moire taffeta!) with glue and then stitched through the buttonholes. On the back, I copied a portion of an Irish poem that reminded me of my Gram's giving spirit.
I made 5 wreaths; I gave one to my mother and each of my four aunts. We all cried together and then they shared stories of the buttons they recognized from the many, many, many dresses, coats and suits that Gram made for them during her long, giving life.

[LadybugsAndBumblebees]

I love the wreath, the sentiment behind it, and the beautiful poem!

[Belladune]

that's absolutely amazing.  You had me teared up to hear the story behind the beautiful wreath.  Wonderfully thoughtful of you.

[EllaRain]

What a wonderful thing to do for your family and what a lovely way to honor your grandmother.

[Seefin]

You almost had me crying like a baby!
I'm so sorry to hear about your grandma, what a nice way to remember her, I can relate, My granda passed away a few years ago and left me like...  his 2,000 strong collection of marbles.
I think that it's lovely for you to have, somewhat a piece of your grandma ''back home'' as to say

[lindsycarranza]

What a wonderfully touching story, project, gift and poem. So beautifully done and so very thoughtful. I got a bit misty eyed reading this but it's just so beautiful

[ScrappySue]

Just wonderful.
As the previous posters did, I also got a bit misty reading this.
What a beautiful sentiment and idea, wonderfully done.
S

[eternallyeve]

What a fantastic way to honour the memory of your grandmother, and share with your family at the same time.

[Holliewood]

Beautiful...just simply beautiful.  I think I'll do something similar to this with my grandma's button's for Christmas for my mom.  Thank you so much for sharing!

[beckyheartscrafting]

Glad I'm not the only one who was teared-up reading this post!  This project is amazing and touching... great job!  Your family must be really proud of your thoughtfulness