Who is Orange Sink?

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Rice Lake, WI, United States
My home town is Rice Lake, a small town in northern Wisconsin. I own Red House Wool Studio~ an in-home wool and rug hooking business. I enjoy collecting and decorating with antiques and primitives. Orange Sink Blog is a journal of my interests and ramblings about life. Cathy Greschner

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Saturday, December 26, 2009

Hooking and Stripping! Dyeing and Dreaming!







I guess it's pretty clear where my mind has been lately! With Christmas past, and even before the last Santa laughed, I was out in the Wool Studio doing my hooking dance!
This rug will entertain many firsts for me. The first and most enjoyable being the tearing and stripping of the wool by hand instead of using a cutter! Why have I not tried this before? I think I may just toss out the old Bliss cutter and never look back! I love it because you hook with these gigantic wide strips of color and texture. Speeds the process up and you cover a lot of ground in a hooking session. The look is fabulous! Big plushy loops. Kind of a contained sloppiness if you will. Okay, primitive. Isn't that the look we primitive lovers crave? This rug measures 18 inches by 38 inches long. A bigger rug for me than the mostly smaller projects I've had the time to work on these last few months!
I'm having my hooking fix big time here. My mind wanders to the new year and the plans I'm conjuring up! Lots and lots of plans! I feel I must make up for this last year I lost due to caring for Mom. I'll still be limited for time as my duties are not over concerning her care in the coming months. But maybe, just maybe I can get back on track a little here. There's so much to do. Mounds of wool waiting to be dyed, rugs in my brain waiting to be drawn on paper! So much, so much! Universe, what have you in mind for me this year?

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Birthday Tears, Friends With Good Cheers!


Whew! Another birthday gone with the wind and snow! Thanks to all of you great blogger friends for all your heartfelt birthday wishes! Pat,Dulcy,Corinne,Laurie,Katie,Julie,Marilyn,and all who commented! I'm glad you like the blog header of Smokey and Max dashing through the snow. Dave is a sports photographer and captures the most amazing action shots of the dogs. If he lets me I hope to share more of his photography with you this coming year!
My most amazing friends who are my next door neighbors, saved me from sitting in front of the computer all day yesterday with tears and feeling old and blue! Lisa foraged the neighborhood for fresh pine, cedar,sumac and all kinds of dried stuff from the garden for making arrangements. Lisa's dining room table and floor became the creating center! Mary shared a box of vintage ornaments that Lisa and I drooled over! Then the creating began! After much chatter about everything from eating fiddle-head ferns to actually eating some of Mary's amazing meal-in-themselves fruitcake cookies, we had some gorgeous arrangements to carry home! Lisa got so caught up in the creative spirit she went on to create more arrangements for some older people in our neighborhood who live alone! What can I say, blessed are we to live here amongst strangers who have become the closest of friends! Merry Christmas you guys and please when you see Dave shoveling the 15 inches of snow tomorrow send someone over with their snowblower!

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Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Birthday Girl Blues


I'm digging through old family photos today. Today is kinda special. December 22nd, my birthday. My Dad's birthday was Dec. 20th. We always shared one birthday cake. Mom got away with only making one cake for our combined birthdays! Just kind of teary eyed today.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Christmas Countdown



May your Christmas be Merry and Bright or Silent as the Night if you prefer it. I snapped this photo of the trees out side of the local hospital. Ya, the one where my Mom will NOT be staying for Christmas. She is back in her apartment and God willing will be able to stay home for Christmas. Just a few more days to go. We will make it.
This is a tree inside the hospital that was decorated by one of the staff. Gorgeous tree with big apple slices on a string.
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Dogs Love Santa too!
Smokey and Max are still having fun with Santa, the wood pile is going down, and I've started a new rug!! I'll show you in a few days! Have a Blest and Peaceful Holiday my friends.


Thursday, December 10, 2009

With These Hands~I'm Stitching, Wishing, Hoping the Season is Bright!




I've been putting little tidbits on my sidebar of things I'm working on in between caring for my Mom and umpteen million other things.  Mom is back in the hospital.  I was thinking a few days ago that might happen.  Hopefully it will only be for a few days while they give her fluids to get her intestinal problems straightened out. Thankfully this time they put her in the local hospital which is only a few minutes from our home. We'll see if I get my wish that she not spend Christmas in the hospital.
In the meantime,staying up late to work on it, I  finished a pillow for a gift pictured above. I got the idea from the book With These Hands by Maggie Bonanomi .  Love that book.  There are so many projects in it that I want to make.  I just took two of the projects here and combined them to make this pillow. It is all wool with the pieces cut freehand style for a primitive look.  I hope my friend likes it!

Monday, December 7, 2009

Breathing Deeply This Season


Close your eyes for a moment. Take a deep breath. The kind you can feel to the bottom of your lungs that makes your ribcage expand outward. How does it feel? Now breathe out.....slowly slowly......
I'm doing this on my end today. Trying not to let the seasons thrills, chills, ills, and emotions sweep me away!
If it's not one thing it's been something else around here. Mom has moved, not without issues. A broken elevator in the complex she moved into resulted in a few trips to the Doctor yet again. The most recent being this A.M. Her apartment is on the third floor so four flights of steps can be a lot and evidently too much even though we took them ever so slowly.
Day by day, breath by breath.
I've been thinking that all I want for Christmas this year is Christmas. Christmas at home and not in the hospital. Wouldn't that be grand!
I've decided to share a few photos of things around the house again. Things I take comfort in. Simple things, not too complicated.
Take special note of the old old pincushion with the red calico and childrens pictures that looks like it was probably made by a child. Made for Mom from an old greeting card. I have collected old pincushions for a number of years. This is my most favorite one!
Breathe deeply......exhale slowly........
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basket/berries/grncoverlet
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Friday, December 4, 2009

Green Tea Shortbread Martini's Anybody? How about a Pink Dragon!

There is a movie preview before you get to the drink recipes in the video. Please keep watching for some very interesting drink recipes for your Holiday entertaining or to sip while hooking on that rug! Let me know what you think!!http://www.houseandhome.com/videos/recipes-entertaining/holiday-cocktails