My picture

      Have I suddenly become a painter? No, I don't think so :) I must confess that I'm not good at painting or drawing. Of course, I had art classes at school and even got good marks. I presume, almost all of us did, didn't we? :) Despite this very few people become painters. It's strange, don't you think?
       Well, what am I on about? Oh yes, my picture. I have seen some pictures of this kind on the Internet, but only a few weeks ago I felt a strong desire to try and make something myself using this technique . I was surprised how easy it is, and what great joy the process gives.
        So, this is how it happened. First of all I watched some tutorials on the Internet. Then I bought a picture frame with glass. I have been practising needle felting for a few years, so I have some dyed wool of different colours. Then I tried to make my first wool "painting". I cut a rectangular piece of flannel to the size and shape of the picture frame. Then I took the frame apart, I mean I bent up the metal tabs which hold the frame itself, the glass and the backing panel together, and separated those three parts from each other. I put my piece of flannel onto the backing and started to cover it with the strands of wool, layer by layer. First I used light green and yellow wool for the background, and then some hues of dark green for the foreground. After that I "painted" the flowers. I took quite thick strands of yellow wool, added thin orange and white strips, and cut them with scissors into the shape of flower petals. Then I cut some very short pieces of brown and orange wool and put them onto the middle of each flower. I also made some green leaves. Those strange grey and white things are meant to be the withered flowers with seeds, but I'm afraid they don't look like that :) In the end, I covered my picture with the glass, put it into the frame and fastened all the parts together with the tabs.

      It looks like a spot of sunshine in my room to me and brings some warmth and light into dull grey autumn days. I hope it will light up your autumn, too :)

My handicraft

Finally! I've made it! My first jewellery. I know that it's not perfect, but I like it so much! It's an "air" necklace crocheted of a long piece of a fishing line and beads. I think that it is just great for summer!

About this and that :)

I have not been here for a long time. Sorry for making you wait for this post for so long.
Well, I have taken some photos in the meantime, here they are. Enjoy! :)

Lilies. The end of June.

Lily, mid-July

My cucumbers, 02.08.2015

My harvest :)

My poor lavender. It grows as a houseplant.

The result of my attempts to learn how to crochet with beads.

 

    And, here at the end, are some romantic pictures.

A flower at night

 

Everybody loves somebody sometime... :)

  

What I wanted to say is, "Love each other! Regardless who or what you are - people, or snails" :)

How I am spending my summer holidays :)

      I am still on my annual holidays now. Yesterday, one of my friends asked me why there are no new posts in my blog? 'Have you become too lazy?' he asked.
     That question made me think for a while and I came to conclusion that yes, I have :) On the other hand, why can't I be a little lazy for a while? :) In any case, here is my brief report about the past two weeks.
      What do I usually do during the day while I am on holiday? Actually, almost the same that I do any other day :) I cook, do the laundry, do the dishes, do the ironing, go shopping, water the houseplants and garden plants. Besides these things, I am able to pay more attention to my English studies. I also watch TV in the evening. Do you know what I watch? You will never guess! "Agatha Christie's Poirot" and "Midsomer Murders" :) I like them so much! It's a strange thing, once before I tried to read one of Agatha Christie's books (I don't remember which one) and found it so boring that I gave up after two or three first pages. Nevertheless, when I watched a part of the series about Poirot the first time, I immediately fell in love both with the film and with it's characters :)
      To be honest, I expected to have more time for my other hobbies, such as embroidering, crocheting and needle felting, but unfortunately I haven't done much of them. 
      Now let's move on to the photos. I think that everybody knows how a pile of laundry or dirty dishes looks, so I did not take photos of them :) I brought only my favourite - flowers and plants to your attention in the pictures I posted.

There is a jasmine bush near our block of flats. Bumblebees like its flowers, and so do I :)

The poppies in my flower bed. The photo was taken last week, so the flowers have withered by now.

Some dill plants in my tiny kitchen garden. Don't worry, I watered them after taking the photo :)

There are some strawberries in my kitchen garden, too. I haven't managed to find how to say in English that these ones are not garden strawberries :) So, I hope that you understand that this is a type of strawberries which usually grow in the forest :) Oh, it's not at all easy to try and describe or explain something when you feel lack the vocabulary :) Although it is funny :) I suspect that it is even funnier for  native English speakers to read what I wrote :) Well, enjoy it! :)

Our first harvest this year :)

I have posted this photo just to tease a little bit my friend, who regards me to become too lazy :) These are some gingerbread biscuits I baked before my journey in order to share them with my mother and friends.

My little journey

     This post is not connected with my flowerbed nor with my kitchen garden. Actually, I suspect that there will be many other "random" posts in this blog. This is because I don't think that it would be wise to start new blogs which could contain only one or two posts. However, don't worry, there will be many photos of plants in those posts, too :)
      What am I on about? Oh yes, my little journey. A while ago my husband and I visited the place where I grew up. It's the most beautiful place in the world! Well, you are right, almost everyone can say the same about where they come from. I'm not going to argue :) Here are just some photos taken there and during our return journey. I hope you will like them.

Some of the places where I spent a lot of time as a child

Acacia trees are starting to bloom

Some thyme plants. The smell of thyme always reminds me of my childhood. For some reason these plants don't grow where I live now.

One of the views of Poltava, the town where I lived as a student.

Our way back home

The day was cloudy. Please, don't say that this looks very Irish :) Although, I suspect that you were not even going to :)

The return is a part of a journey, isn't it? :)

A jocular warning :)

Here is what these modest and  inconspicuous flowers can do with your flower bed if you don't stop them :) Be careful with modest and inconspicuous... hmm.. flowers :)

It's not my garden :)

I adore apple blossom! Whenever apple trees bloom I remember my student years and this song, which I adore too. So, every spring I feel very young and happy again :)

     When I was a final year student, I stayed with a very kind old lady. She lived in a small house with a beautiful tiny garden, in a quiet narrow backstreet. There were many apple trees along that backstreet. In May, when they were all blooming, and the sun was sending its tender warm beams to earth, it was a great pleasure to walk along the street to the accompaniment of the buzzing bees.
      Every spring, blooming apple trees remind me of my youth, of Poltava, a town dear to my heart,  and of my good late hostess Maria Andreevna, whose tiny garden was her real passion and a local showplace. 

In the garden of my parents-in-law, 2 May 2015

It looks as if it is May already :)

It turned very warm here on Sunday, so all plants started to grow extremely fast. Today I noticed that the tulips in my flower bed are almost withered, although they began to bloom only a few days ago. Then I recalled that I took some photos of cherry plum trees in full bloom, but did not share them yet. I will do so today. So, cherry plum trees, tulips, narcissi and forget-me-nots.

Unfortunately, no camera or photograph could convey the unbelievable beauty of that flood of white blossom!

Some orange tulips. Someone has already picked them...

You have already seen them... Yes, they are narcissi Salome, but this time they are in full bloom.

This is what my flower bed looked like on Monday when seen through my window

These purple tulips look so nice with forget-me-nots in the background!

This is one of my favourites :)

Forget-me-nots... Don't forget me, my friends...

The time of daffodils and apricot trees in bloom :)

     It's a really wonderful time now! Every time I look out through the window and see the world beyond it, my heart starts beating faster and I feel that happiness fills me. It seems that the whole world is white because of the apricot and cherry plum trees in bloom!
    Although it is cold and rainy the last few days, you can feel that spring is in the air, and you can see it in green grass, and in blooming daffodils, muscaris, dandelions, and, of course in the apricot blossom! I'm happy to share my spring mood with you, my friends!

An apricot tree in bloom

My daffodils

A narcissus and some muscaris

A wildflower tulip surrounded with forget-me-nots which will start blooming a little later

Narcissi Salome

These dandelion flowers look to me like small drops of the sun

This cherry plum tree looks wonderful! Actually, I'm not sure about the English name for the tree, we call it "алыча"

Meet my first spring flowers

 Hello, my friends! 

Welcome to my blog devoted to my flower bed and kitchen garden.

I am not sure that it will turn out extremely interesting, but I hope that you will enjoy some of the posts.

To begin with, I will briefly describe my flower bed. It is small, about two metres wide and about six metres long. It is located near the block of flats I live in. There are some tall trees near it, so in summer most of it is in their shade.

In spring, when there are no leaves on the trees, it gets much more sunshine, so many flowers can grow well and please me with their beauty. The ones which appear first of all are Crocuses and Irises Reticulata. I love them! I hope you will enjoy the photos of them.

Iris Reticulata