Savoring August

Two more days and this year's August will vanish forever. 

Maybe you're Anxious for fading greens to turn to golds and rusts

and hot, angry weather to mellow into cooler crisper days.  

 Before I give August too swift of a  kick in the behind maybe I'd  be wise to think of January and February days ahead. 

When the memory of  warm breezes  through  open windows,  slow walks with the dogs past waving corn stalks,  an evening bike ride  with the pungent smell of late summer in my nostrils would have me wishing I'd savored  the last two days of August.

I'll be dyeing more wool this week and  working on kits for my rug hooking class this Fall.  I'm also working on some little projects I'll share when I have more done.  The ladies are coming Wed. afternoon for some rug hooking, chatting, snacking,  planning new projects and finishing some old.  



I gathered some Silver King Artemisia this morning from the garden. It's silvery leaves will dry in a crock for enjoying all winter long.


How will you be savoring the last two days of August?
Cathy G

Method to My Madness?

(Kelley Belfast designed Pumpkin)

I just might be a lunatic.  I've been working like a mad scientist the past couple of days conjuring up dye formulas and dyeing wool.   I've taxed my brain to it's limit trying to design my next class rug hooking project.  Is it going to be too hard for first time hookers to hook?  How long will it take them?  What colors should I use?......  for an October class that should be a no brainer right?   

Fresh out of the dye pot these rust textures dry on an early drying rack.



Out of the dye pots came a few golds.  I think these will work.



Now, to decide on the edging.  Don't want to go with a traditional binding.  Want something fun and different and fast to do.  Not sure if I like what I came up with.
The mad scientist may have to put on the very large thinking cap and come up with a different idea !
Cathy G

Grinning Jack

                                               (These are the wools I'm using)


I started working on this small oval mat a couple of nights ago.  It's small (12 1/2 inches by 9) so it's going quickly.  You may recall seeing this pattern on my blog before.  I designed it two years ago and did the pumpkin in white.

I think this pattern could be done up in any number of different colors and could be fun!  Maybe a purple pumpkin!  If anyone's interested I could draw one up  on linen for you for 20 dollars.  That would include shipping anywhere in the states. (email me:    antcathy@charter.net)  I'll send a Paypal invoice to you.

I'm waiting for a shipment of wool from Heaven's to Betsy!  Should be here in the next couple of days!  Fall is a comin' and I'm  starting to get ready for my next class at the Tech. School.  Starts the first Thurs. in Oct.  I haven't decided on the project for the students yet but have an idea floating around in thee ol' noggin!  I do have punkins on the brain.....  and times getting away!  So much work to do! 

But I'll Git er done!!!!

Cathy G 

In The Dog House!

Things have been a little hairy around the Orange Sink household the last few days.  The fur boys needed haircuts and baths  of which I am usually the designated hair clipper and Mr. Orange Sink the bather.  Both duties however, fell to Mr. Orange Sink this weekend while I was busy in my office screwing up the computer!

   After baths and haircuts Smokey and Max retreated to their indoor doghouse, an old willow bench in our breezeway.  Dave calls it their cabin. Max on the top bunk and Smokey underneath.

So while the boys were drip drying and resting up from their bath and haircut ordeal, I remained in my office screwing up the computer.

Things for me progressed from bad to worse as I attempted ( read computer dummy here) to install a newer version of Flash Player on my Mac which I found out  later is too old to support the new version. Who new?  I was lead to believe all would be well if I uninstalled the old version then the new would work.  Wrong!  Having no idea what I was doing in the first place I  kept getting in deeper and deeper.  Things popped up on my computer that I had no idea what was happening.  All I was trying to do is get my photos from PhotoBucket to my blog.  I like being able to have a bigger photo than blogger provides without having to click to enlarge. It works slick to upload to PhotoBucket then copy and paste the code into the blogging box.  Well....it USED to work slick. 


Thank goodness Mr. Orange Sink works with a computer wizard  at the newspaper.  I knew I was in the doghouse when he had to call John to fix my mess.  A couple of hours and some fancy work later I now have my computer back to where it was before I started messing with it!  Whew!  


I think I will stick to rug hooking, cleaning and moving my stuff around the house for Fall now that I'm out of the doghouse.  Mr. Orange Sink thinks so too.  So maybe tomorrow I can show you the little Halloween Mat I've been working on.   See you then!

                                                                   Cathy G

Martha Made Me Do It!

I've always been a fan of Martha.  That's why when I won a give-away last week on Sharon's fun blog MoosecraftUSA I couldn't have been happier!  I won two Martha Stewart books on organizing the home and home solutions.  Just my kind of books. Thanks so much Sharon!  I like to read and reread these kinds of publications  hoping to gain some insight on getting my messes and home squared away.

Paging through the Simple Home Solutions book I spied this idea for storage under the bathroom sink on page 107.

Judging by the storage solution under MY bathroom sink, I think I have a ways to go before meeting Martha's yellow gingham lined basket standards.  Ya think?

(I can't believe I'm actually showing you a pic of under my bathroom sink!.... )

Oh well. I have all winter to worry about what's under my bathroom sink. Sorry Martha.  But I do have to report that Martha has inspired a little French decorating in my bathroom.    French Bulldog that is.

If you are a Martha groupie you probably know she has two adorable French Bulldogs named Francesca and Sharkey.   Of course they even have their own blog The Daily Wag.    

A couple of weeks ago I was cleaning and redecorating a little shelf in my bathroom. I've had this little French Bulldog figurine sitting in my office among some other clutter.  I thought why not give an ode to Martha by finding a home for it in the bathroom.  It found a new home on the shelf over the tub.  Maybe it will remind to do something about  the clutter under the 

sink one of these days!

Thanks again Sharon!  That was a fun give-away!  

Cathy G

Kids and Pets

Thanks again to my niece Alicia for forwarding these photos. Hope your day is filled with gratitude and simple pleasures!

                                                                             Cathy G

Modern Technology

They are real foolers ...... these laminate floors!  Technology has given me pause once again as the new floor went down in the living room this past weekend.  

Sawing, snapping, sweating, swearing,   my dear hubby worked all weekend with a borrowed chop saw to cut these wider planks.   The tricky part around the walls and doors are all that's remaining.  Some staining and careful cuts will be required.

I've been wanting to rearrange our living room for about three years now.  Modern technology has kept me from actually doing it.  How so?  The darned T.V.

I've tried it in every corner of the room. The chairs as you know work the best when facing this mind mesmerizing squawking box of wonders.

Which leaves very little option of rearranging furniture in a room with one wall of double patio doors, one wall that is a fireplace with shelving and three doors or passageways to other areas of the house.  

Did I mention that our dog Max has become emotionally and physically attached to an old blue recliner that has seen better days?  He actually whines and gives me evil eyes after I  move it from one end of the room to the other!

I would really like to move it to the end of the driveway!

After suffering and recovering from acute sinus infection all of last week, this week I'm feeling much better thanks to modern medicine and the well wishes from YOU my wonderful blog readers!Antibiotics are the single most wonderful drug in the world.  Right Karen? ( Through the Barn Door ) We have been comparing notes all week as we both came down with this malady almost simultaneously!  





 Does he look a little worried?
Cathy G