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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Thursday, October 29, 2009

~A Halloween Doodle~


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Hocus and Pocus

Crow Witches two

Conjuring up

The Halloween Stew


Spiders and crickets

Rabbits and hops

Simmer together

Serve with some chops


Crow you old Witches

Stew you old pot

Three One of October

To be not forgot



A Halloween Doodle and Poem by Orange Sink

Friday, October 23, 2009

It's A Dog Day Afternoon!

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The dogs are dozing on the willow bench in the breezeway while huge white globs of snow slop towards the earth outside. Mom is catching her 12:30 soap opera while perched on a footstool in the living room.
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Everyone it seems is quite content to stay inside today and soak up the toasty heat from the wood fire. Mom is doing well. We've had Dr's visits this week along with home health care visits and physical therapy. Just two weeks out from having major heart surgery I find it satisfying to see her doing anything.
I'm rambling today trying to collect my thoughts for this blog. Today is one of those days when I really don't want to think. It's wonderful to glance outside and watch the snow forming. It started out as wet globs splattering like big bugs on the windshield. I didn't see the instant it changed over into all white glittery flakes, sifting slowly now like powdered sugar over a bare chocolate cake.
Okay, I'll snap out of it. I need to get serious. There are important things to think about. I wanted to tell you about the cows up there in my blog header.

They are taken from an old oil painting done by my great grandmother on my Dad's side of the family. Her name was Emma. Quite the lady I am told. From all of the stories I've heard about her the one I find most fascinating is the one where she threw a fellow out of the barn while she was milking cows. Evidently the chap made a rude comment about Kate Smith, a popular singer at the time whom she adored. You didn't get away with that around Emma. She'd put you in your place. She was an artist. She painted her surroundings in life such as the cows and flowers. I'm told this cow painting was one of her earliest, painted around the turn of the century(1910). It hangs above our mantel in the living room.

How I wish I could have met Emma! I've studied this painting since childhood when it hung in the farmhouse we lived in. I'd always hoped that somehow it would bring me closer to her. Knowing what she knew, seeing what she saw. I love looking at the way she painted cows. Quite dainty and fine for such cumbersome creatures don't you think? I think she liked cows.

I've rambled enough today. I'll leave you with a photo of the cow painting. It's still in it's original frame that is quite beat up. I will not change it, for I know she touched it.

emmascowsfull

Saturday, October 17, 2009

My Selling Blog Is Open~How'd I Do That???

It's midnight and I'm still awake!

The last few days have been a blur......getting home from the hospital, getting Mom settled comfortably, getting everything back to somewhat normal around here. Mom is doing wonderful! Everyone is tucked in for the night so I can sit here and ponder. How did I make it through the last couple of weeks? How did I manage to learn how to create another blog for which I intend to sell a few things? How.......Oh well, the blogging gods must have been watching over me, that's all I can say.

So join me on this new venture if you will. The link to my new selling blog is over there on the right. Just click on the Autumn Trio Rug and you'll magically end up there. I will be adding more things for sale. I am as curious as you to find out what things! So go check it out and let me know what you think!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Mom's Surgery and My Selling Blog

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I'm home from the hospital for a brief moment. Mom came through her heart valve replacement surgery just fine. She is out of intensive care and everything seems to be progressing along quite nicely. Oh, the marvels of modern medicine. A natural tissue pig valve is now functioning in her heart. I am still teary at the thought of all that has happened these last few days. My Mom is this little bit of a thing. She's never weighed more than 95 pounds her entire life. To see her come through this and all that she's endured this year since Mother's Day in May seems nothing short of a miracle. I am so in awe to have witnessed the strength of the human will to survive. To cherish each day of life we have is not optional. Being grateful for all we have is a constant.

I needed a little project to stitch on to calm my nerves while in the waiting room so this little Halloween mat was just the ticket. I cut out the pieces from my wool stash and stuck them on with a smidgeon of glue. I hate battling pins while stitching. This is an easy peasy little pattern from Bareroots.

I'm off to pack up for my trip back to Marshfield Hospital tomorrow. When I get back home I hope to set my selling blog in motion and provide a link to it here. I am so excited about being able to offer some of my work for sale on this WWW. Blessings! Cathy

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Scarin' the Neighbor's and the Autumn Valley Hook-In

hippie scarecrows

After a full day of scrubbing the bathroom, doing laundry, vacuuming, yard work, cleaning the chimney pipes, getting things ready around here for another winter in Wisconsin............I thought we needed a little fun time! I finished the scare crows I started a couple of weeks ago. There may be a slight resemblance to Dave and I. Actually he helped me carry them out to the front yard and set up the corn and pumpkins. I used mostly recycled stuff I had laying around to make them. My good neighbor and friend Lisa, donated the stump heads.The big willow chairs they are sitting in came from Arkansas about 20 years ago. So I guess we're all decked out for fall!

Yesterday was the Autumn Valley Hook-in in Stillwater, MN. It's an hour and a half drive west of here. A few miles down the road I discovered I forgot to bring my camera. It's no wonder I forgot it with all the stuff we need to pack when we travel. Smokey, one of our Bichon Poo's has diabetes. We always pack a cooler for the insulin and a fresh food diet for the dogs. About three-quarters of the way there we stopped to give Smokey his insulin shot. Then shortly after we arrived in Stillwater, Dave dropped me off at the Hook-in and drove to a park and fed the boys.

The Hook-in was bustling with activity! I met Laurie from the Wooly Red Rug for the first time! What a delight! We had little time to visit as she was so busy in her booth! I had to squeeze in sideways to look at her things! She had a good supply of Cushing dyes so I bought about 26 different colors. My intention is to hit the dye pots as soon as I can after my Mom has her surgery this week. I am a beginner in the dye process so that should be interesting. I also bought a book that I have had my eye on for quite some time. I just splurged and brought it home! The book is "With These Hands" by Maggie Bonanomi. I can tell this is one that will remain in my book collection for a long time. I think my next hooked rug is going to be another penny circle mat like the two she features in the book. They are fast and fun to hook. I hope to get the backing out and prepared tomorrow. So we'll see how that goes. I have to make up for a lot of failed efforts lately in the 10 minute rug hooking challenge! I fear it was too big of a challenge for me right now, but I'm not giving up!

I hope you are all enjoying these beautiful fall days and getting your own projects underway!

Don't be alarmed! I'm changing the look of my blog! You know that's why I have such a clean mind...because I keep changing it all the time! Also be on the lookout for my new selling blog. I am working on it and hope to reveal it soon! Blessings! Cathy