Button, button, who's got the button?

This wasn't the plan. All I wanted to do was put away the three or four spools of ribbon cluttering up my sewing area. Somehow, that turned into a button sorting exercise, coupled with a decluttering of some storage containers.

Although I've not done much garment sewing in the last several years, I still have a stash of miscellaneous buttons. Three peanut butter jars full, plus a bag of buttons still on the cards and another of the cover-your-own button forms. What you see here are the loose buttons, after sorting and culling out the ones I probably will never use. The two bags of matched buttons I kept in the bags.

Where on earth did I get 24 3/8" star shaped buttons, and for what project were they intended? Also in this stash is a truly frightening number of the 3/16" white buttons used on Barbie doll clothes...what was I thinking? More than likely, these were part of a "bargain bag" purchase, but still...

The end result of the puttering is a new, compartmentalized container of buttons, an organized container of ribbon and bias tape and a better understanding of the miscellany in the second double shoebox. For the record, that includes copper embossing powder and pen, card stock blank bookmarks, three wire hangars for small quilts, assorted paint brushes, crochet hooks and hat pins, several yards of purple sequin trim, tiny ribbon roses and a cloth foundation for a New York Beauty wallhanging.

I feel much better now.