Flower Dream Catcher, Russian Doll and Fern's Flower on Birthday

Having +40C and above in day time, air feels like hot "milk" if you walk out, it is not possible for me to be without air conditioning and fans on, craving for juicy fruits and milk shakes - all that means that the Indian Summer has put its foot firmly in the city. I have a hope (a tiny one) that by the mid July the weather will get "better", however most probably it is going to be humid then, the monsoon season will be on its way.

Meanwhile I am getting more and more worried for all the things which need to be done in the house - cleaning, rearranging, refurbishing etc. I read somewhere not to try to get all done, not to stress and exhaust yourself - easy to say. When having a baby is no more just a "talk" but a reality you cannot help but keep on thinking how all is going to be. In order to divert that persistent thinking I devote some of my evenings to craft activities.

"Aunt Alexandra was hooking a rug and not watching us, but she was listening. She sat in her chair with her workbasket beside it, her rug spread across her lap.  Why ladies hooked woolen rugs on boiling nights never became clear to me".- a quote from Nelle Harper Lee's "To Kill a  Mockingbird". Okay, so I don't weave any blankets these hot days but on a "lighter" side. I remembered that many years ago I made a crochet wrist band with cross stitch floss which thought gave me another one "why not to use the cotton floss for something other than cross stitch again?". The inspiration for that "something" was also one broken plastic curtain ring. At first I did't know what I was going to do with the emerged flower but then... okay you know how the ideas are born - it turned out to be a flower dream catcher I made almost two weekends ago. I love it! The thread colors make me happy and the colored wooden beads which are actually embellishments from some scrunchy finally found their use. I blocked the flower and now it hangs above our heads on the wall.
           

But where is the Russian Doll? Here she is in her new custom frame, and I shall tell about the experience. 

It was done from a local shop which deals in making of frames for photos and pictures. It seemed natural to me to do the same for a cross stitch picture. My D went with me to the market, we chose a frame and I (fingers crossed) handed over the Russian doll to a shopkeeper. After three days he gave it back: it looked nice, my first ever hand made work under the glass but.. it was tilted! Obviously that the person who executed framing had no idea of how to actually do it. I regretted that I simply didn't customize a frame and didn't do the fitting myself. Well, now it cannot be undone and I like my Russian doll as she is, though slightly constricted.

Yesterday was my D's birthday. Yey! I made something special for him this year - Slavic vedic amulet called in Russian "obereg". The symbol itself is called "Fern's flower". It was my first such kind of cross stitch and I enjoyed creating it. I put it in a hand made frame, and we will be hanging it on the wall in our room so that he can see it every day and get charged with its energy.

I needed to decorate it with oak leaves and acorns and found a very cute cross stitch pattern which I altered a little. Now I really want to cross stitch oak leaves and acorns alone :) Maybe to add some forest berries too?

Have a happy weekend ahead, my dears!