~Eleanor Roosevelt
Clam Shell
So, in the interim of having to stay off my feet as much as I could, I've done nothing much but crochet on my afghan. All seven large rows are done, and I began doing the trim. It'll probably be another week or so before it's completed. The particular pattern I'm using is quite simple and fast working.
Sandy at Teacup Lane posted about her new crochet project and shared a site about knitting and crocheting, so I joined. Thank you for sharing the information. If you too are interested, just click on the link HERE. It's by invitation only and you need a valid email address to join. But, it's free. And the image with this little paragraph shows you some of the samples of the free patterns available. Awesome. I must confess, I've checked over and over online for some free patterns and have only found a few that I really liked and saved. On this site there are over 12000 patterns to choose from...from crocheting to knitting. All are categorized for convenience, and it seems to be well organized. I will continue to peruse the patterns and see what they have. Thanks for the heads-up Sandy!!!
Here I am, beginning the sketch -starting in the middle with Dorothy, and, to the right, working on the scarecrow's hat. Below those two photos are cropped close-ups of [in order] The Cowardly Lion, The Wicked Witch, The Tin Man, Scarecrow, DOROTHY.
Then, the frame, I sanded it down to the wood, and then painted it black all around...on top of the black, I painted it silver...then 'distressed' it in spots going back to show a partial black and bare wood. Glossed it up. After that was dried, I added the "OZ" that I had done in all black. The matte is supposed to "represent" the yellow brick road in color. In real time, it IS more yellow than the photos show [LOL]... 
It was fun to sketch this. Of course, quite a few characters are left out, including the wizard, the munchkins, the monkeys, the good witch, auntie em and more. I wanted only the main characters. So, this is what I came up with; a collage.
Again, this week just flew by. It's been so hot in the afternoons that I tend to sit on my touche way too much. The only outdoor time I've had is early in the morning hours. Walking, then getting back home and trying to keep all the flowers, trees, and bushes alive during a drought period and the inferno. If it weren't for the humidity around here, I'd think I was still living in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona! The past month the sun has been white hot!! The heat index has been anywhere from 100 to 110. [Those kinds of temps are normal summertime temps we had in Tucson without the humidity factored in; and yes, Tucson has high humidity during the summer monsoon season to where the indices shoot up above 120 degrees Fahrenheit] Yet, everyone else [the smaller towns on the outskirts of Corpus] is getting rain showers...not us'ns!!! For the last couple of weeks I've been keeping a close 'eye' on the tropical depression #5 along the coast of the Gulf...it began near the western tip of Florida, and moved into the Louisiana area; to make landfall there, and then lo and behold, the booger circled around to the east and came back out into the Gulf...I thought it would at least bring us some rain this time, but it once again made landfall near the same area and petered out on us! LOL We've only had a 20% chance of rain coming our way, and so far, nil...nothing but a sprinkle or two. Thank goodness for the soft sea breezes here in the morning. I want rain...without hurricane force winds. The drier air of Autumn sounds heavenly right now -mild temps without humidity --but, rain. Does that make sense? There is just no pleasing me. Last time I prayed for rain...we got a deluge of days, weeks; so much rain that the water table rose so high, the area around here was flooded for some time! Now, I always ask for a couple days rainfall. I've learned to be more specific! BTW, as I type this there is another storm building off Africa's Cape Verde that needs to be watched by all of us who live anywhere near a coast line in USA. Late yesterday afternoon it turned into a tropical depression...with a westerly track. 
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