The Month Of May

May is winding to a close with some loose ends tied up, Firstly the button-of-the-month arrived today. Very apropos - a snake button, remember we saw the snake dens this month. This is a real stunner of a button. Can you see the detail? Thank you Jane!



The wee button is sitting on a piece of Spirit Quartz. Does anyone remember waaaay back to this post about my haunted landing? Well, I did finally give up entirely on plants and I thought the best thing would probably be an exorcism. I toddled off to my nearest crystal/pagan/witchcraft shop and made enquiries. I was told the first step (that's pre-exorcism) is to hang a healing crystal in the window and politely ask the spirit to leave. I'll admit right now that I was very tempted to roll my eyes at the woman - she really didn't understand how bad I thought the situation was. I brought home a few large chunks of crystal that day - forget hanging a little one in the window, I needed great big substantial boulders, and I politely (yes, yes) but firmly asked the spirit to leave (no-one else was home at the time).

I bought some clear quartz, selenite, celestite and spirit quartz (in the photo that's counter-clockwise from the far right).



Clear quartz is suppose to be infinitely powerful and able to dispel negative energies; selenite is used to commune with spirits and angels; celstite is to aid in peaceful communication; and spirit quartz are suppose to bring family harmony.

Sounds good to me.

Here's a better shot of the selenite and spirit quartz. The selenite really is very beautiful when the light shines through it. I can see why people believe it has some connection to unearthly realms. The spirit quartz is very cool. It comes from Boekenhouthoek (...where?), that's in South Africa. It has crystals growing on crystals, really fascinating. It's purple and yellow, I read that it's amethyst growing on citrine, but I'm no geologist.



Here's the celestite. For the first week in the window, this one struggled to survive. Each day it would be left sitting in a small puddle of sand. When I would walk past it I would brace myself for a great explosion a la Voldemort, but it eventually settled and stopped it's shedding.



In the autumn I plan on adding a few plants to the mix and we'll see if physical life can be sustained. I'll keep you posted.

The month of May also meant I sent out Jane's handmade-of-the-month. I made a wee needle case out of woolen felt. On the front are three appliqued fish with embroidered bead bubbles. Jane is a Pisces, remember. On the back I embroidered her name in big letters - JANE. It turned out quite well, but I forgot to photograph that part. Oops.



Here's the inside. A bit utilitarian I suppose.



To go with th needle case, a thimble. Also made out of woolen felt and a bit of embroidery over a tiny piece of raw silk.



Here's me modelling the thimble. Now before you say, "but you don't wear a thimble on your little finger", let me explain. You see I have great big, sturdy 'worker bee' hands, where as Jane has tiny, delicate 'firefly' hands. I'm confident the thimble will fit on her index or middle finger (if it doesn't Jane, I'll make you another).



Recently in the comments Jane asked to see some flowers from the garden. I've found them a bit disappointing do far this year, but here goes:









Where as my little groupings of flowers come across looking a bit stiff and anti-social, Elly's are a different story. She put together one container this year and it's a party! There's all kinds - mums, pansies, pinks, daisies and snapdragons. Elly loves a crowd.




And lastly the Seaweed Shawl continues along. I'm liking this project very much. The seaweed/silk mix of the yarn is sumptuous and there's a peaceful, undulating quality to the pattern, and, though it took a little while, I've found a nice rhythm to the pattern repeat. The perfect summer project.



Now, forward to June.