Way out in the Middle of Nowhere

This pattern was in the Beadwork magazine in the Feb/Mar 2011 issue. It was so intriguing that I hunted down the issue and then got the beads to make the bangle. Mine is more of a bracelet, since the bead shop didn't have enough of the magatma beads to make it longer. It was my first ever attempt at making a beadwork bracelet. Oh sure, I flirted with a bead loom in my younger years, but only made a small thing. The pattern was well written and I managed to figure it out by myself. If you're wanting to do this for yourself, I would recommend getting out some plastic clay to seat the first row in while working on the 2nd row. It keeps things from moving around so you don't have to feel like you need 5 more hands to get it off the ground.

Sometimes it is good to find a focus and stick with it until it works. A few weeks ago, my friend Sue and I were reminiscing about good Jewish food. That got me thinking about Challah - that wonderful braided bread made around Passover. Wouldn't ya know it, but Passover is this next week! So I've taken one day each week to attempt to perfect my recipe for Challah. The first few tries were uh....tragic. Not enough flour led to something that looked like a pie crust and too much yeast led to something that resembled a 9 x 13 brown rectangle. The last few have been more successful. This last one was made entirely by hand and tasted very good: not too sweet, yeasty with great chewiness. That is what it looked like after the first rising and before the next rising. Like the 95 year old pan? I swear, it's from my Grandmother's stash. It very well could be 95 years old! The last Challah will be made for Thursday. Perhaps I will find another focus. I'm thinking somethi...