Roses in My Garden

Today I’m inviting you to my garden to see my roses.

I don’t have many and I don’t know the names of most of them, but I cherish my roses and try to find a moment to enjoy them every day.





I am linking to

Cottage Flora Thursday @ Fish Tail Cottage,
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home,
Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Friday Favorites @ Simply Sweet Home,
Fertilizer Friday @ Tootsie Time.

Dying Eggs the Old Way

I am not very fond of artificial colorings, so this year I’m dying Easter eggs the way my mom and grandmother did back in Ukraine – with onion skins.



It’s pretty easy to do. You will need lots of onion skins from yellow, red, or both onions. I had been collecting the skins for a few weeks; my guess would be that they were from 8-10 pounds of onions. I collected both yellow and red ones.

Put the onion skins into a pot and cover well with water. Boil the skins for ten minutes, so they will release the color. Put aside and let cool.

Now to the decorative part. The trick here is to make small tight mesh bags from nylons (specifically for this purpose, I bought a new pair of nylons from a Goodwill store for only fifty cents), and insert inside a parsley leaf. The leaf will stick nicely to the egg if you wet it.

When all the eggs are in the mesh bags, put them in the pot with onion skins and boil as you would usually do. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and let cool.

Remove and discard the nylon mesh bags and parsley leaves. Now you have beautiful Easter eggs dyed with nature’s coloring.



I am joining all these link parties:

Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Thrifty Things Friday @ The Thrifty Groove,
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home,
Foodie Friday @ Designs by Gollum,
Hodgepodge Friday @ It’s a Hodgepodge Life,
Flaunt it Friday @ Chic On a Shoestring Decorating.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.
Oh wait! One more thing!

I would like to thank you all for your kind comments and best wishes on my previous post. I appreciate your concern about me and my little one. A heart-felt thank you from me and my family.

The First Rose Bouquet and The News

The roses around the neighborhood have been blooming for a while, but the ones in my garden are still taking their time.

My big arched bush of Cecile Brunner is slowly opening up its blooms. I can’t wait for it to fully bloom; it will be a spectacular view!

I couldn’t wait any longer to pick the first roses from my garden. The tiny blossoms of Cecile Brunner made a cute little bouquet, and it’s incredible how such small flowers filled the entire room with sweet fragrance.

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And now to the news I’ve been so much looking forward to share.

My little boy was born on the 15th of April. His name is Nikolai. We picked this name because it’s both Norwegian (my husband is of Norwegian descent) and Russian (I am of Russian/Ukrainian descent). We were considering English equivalent name Nicholas, but decided to keep it within our cultural heritages.

The baby is doing well, and so is his mama.

Hankies with Lace

Two weeks ago I posted about my new hankies with pink embroidery. I promised to show them again once I had added crocheted lace to them. Well, here they are!



I used crochet thread size 8 and a very thin crocheting hook (I have no idea what size it is) that my father made for my mom about thirty years ago. I didn’t follow any patterns, just experimented a bit and came up with my own. And I must say I am very happy with the results!

I'm joining these wonderful Friday link parties:

Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Thrifty Things Friday @ The Thrifty Groove,
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home.

My Little Easter Vignette

Easter is just around the corner, but I realized there were no signs of it in my home. So today I put up a small Easter vignette on our mantel.

A small cheerful bunch of daffodils, my vintage-looking Easter bottle with a twig of fern, Villeroy and Boch Easter bunny (a present from a friend), and a tiny bouquet of nasturtiums in an egg-shell as a vase. Plus some sweet Easter treats for my two-year-old.



Now it feels like Easter is coming our way!



I am joining the following link parties:

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors,
Seasonal Sundays @ The Tablescaper,
Show off Your Cottage Monday @ The House in the Roses,
Table Top Tuesday @ A Stroll Thru Life.

It’s a Boy!

Dear Friends,

Today, I want to share some personal news. Some of you might remember that back in September I wasn’t feeling well and even had to stop blogging for a while. And some of you might have guessed the nature of my illness…
A baby!

Several months have passed since then, and my little boy (my second son) will finally arrive this month. My family and I are very excited to meet him!

I might disappear from the blog world for some time, but please don’t forget about me; I will be back!





The cute blanket in the picture was crocheted by my mom.

Handmade Monday: Cross-Stitched Rose

Today I want to show another little cross-stitched project that I have done lately. I cross-stitched this red rose to make a thank-you note card.

The pattern is quite simple. It only requires three shades of red (or it could be pink, yellow, or whatever color of roses you prefer) for the rose itself and three shades of green for the leaves.

The original pattern, which you can see here, is in pink, but I didn’t have any pink thread on hand, so I went with red. I think it turned out pretty good.

If you would like to share a post about a handmade item or DIY project, just link bellow.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

I am linking this post to

Making the World Cuter Monday @ Making the World Cuter,
Amaze Me Monday @ Dittle Dattle,
It’s Sew Fun Tuesday @ It’s Sew for You,
Talent Tuesday @ Vintage Wanna Bee.