Odds and Ends

This is my new bottle tree. Based on my previous experience of having all my bottles stolen out of the tree, I made a few changes. First, I bought a 'tree'. It's metal and made by a local artist. Second, my tree is very small, around 3 feet, thus making it portable. 3rd, I placed it behind the house where it is unlikely to draw attraction. It resides in the corner of the storage room and the sewing room.

I spent a good hour making my bottle tree. I pulled up weeds and laid down pine straw. Since I wanted the area to feel like a garden I placed container behind the tree. In the pots are fruit tree seeds that need the coldness of winter to sprout. I probably won't actually plant anything in the ground because it's very rocky and ant infested in this spot.

I passed both tree and bottles through incense smoke. I did another new thing, I bought new bottles. They were half off and I made sure I got pretty ones. All the bottles aren't new. At the old house I had a few bottles hanging on the stair rail and those bottles didn't get stolen. I think having old and new is important. And that blue globe is an old humming bird feeder. Reuse and recycle! Also I each time I placed a bottle on the tree I asked for a blessing. I left a few prongs empty so I could add things in the future. 

Another new thing- I dedicated this tree to Oshun, Oya, and Oba. You probably can't see it in the photo, but I placed a cauldron behind the tree for offerings.



And my mini roses have decided to bloom again. I have another red bush which is loaded with buds but haven't opened yet.

Yesterday I didn't post a card, so today I owe you two- actually, we only got 3 cards left, so I'm going to give you all 3. They are:

chameleon

hippopotamus

cobra

Now remember, the whole point of posting daily cards was so I could work through the deck and make sure I connected with all my cards. I'm going to do a totem animal post so I can talk about how animals act as messengers and how to draw their energy into your life. I thought about posting regular tarot cards each day, but that's 70 odd cards. I may just do a tarot post or two and let that be it. If my scanner was actually compatible with my new computer I could put pics of the cards on the side. I'm not sure my camera will pick up the detail, it's not good on close-up shots (making it hard to list items on etsy). I'll think about it more.

I'm almost done with the pink baby quilt. Yay! I need to get paid and I am tired of working on it.

And one more little witchy thing- I bought a cauldron for sewing. I know that sounds strange and probably you can't think of any possible way to use a cauldron in sewing. The idea here is the ultimate recycling project. See, nothing can be wasted with fabric, no matter how small. A use can be found for every single scrap. So I decided to save my 'waste'- scraps of fabric left from the pieces I cut, and ends of threads after I tie off a knot. I can either make this an offering to a fabric goddess and place it in my compost pile, or when the cauldron is full I can make scrim. Scrim is a lot of little jibblets sewn between gauze and regular fabric. Scrim is very colorful and can be used to make textile art. Most fabrics, thread, ribbon, and yarn can be used in scrim. I was thinking about scrim dragons. If I sell any scrim dragons I'll donate the money to a charity. That it's still an offering. Some people think offerings are bribes to appease deity, but what an offering should be is positive energy, unselfishly given, with the intent to create good in the world.