A couple of years ago (when Michelle Obama became First Lady) I was on a kick to make brooches but gave up because my designs were either flowers or flower-centered or so wildly asymmetrical that they look more like a bead spill than a brooch design.

On Saturday, while waiting for Sheree (she was right on time; I was just very eager to see her) I made some samples using the new magatama beads. I was going to cut these short pieces up and recycle the magatamas but the cat had pushed two of them off the table which I could not reach without getting down on my hands and 'still very sore knee.'

On Sunday I was determined to make the bracelet Sheree had liked enough to make it her own. However, I was so jazzed I tried to make the swirl too high, too thick and the piece began to curl. I set it aside and made two more attempts to replicate the other bracelet (without looking; I was too lazy to get on the computer to check how it was made) - both of which failed. As I fingered the original 'error' it began to want to be sewed together, so I complied. About 11 o'clock, well past my time of reason, I began to idly hold the magatama samples against the failed bracelet and whoops - there was this brooch.