adventures in absent-mindedness

Ta da . . . the ribbon!  My oldest daughter helped me draw the winning name for my latest guessing game.  

And the winner is . . . Tana! 

You are the proud new owner of a unique gel-pen roll.  Try to control your excitement.  I'll be in touch about delivery.

As I mentioned, my second roll - a gel-pen roll - was an adventure in absent-mindedness.  Honestly, it's an overused saying, but I would have lost my head if it wasn't attached.

First, I need to digress . . . I know . . . I might seem slightly obsessed over fusible interfacing.  I've made a pact with myself that this will be the last time I allow myself to rant about it.  Truth be told . . . I'm a vegetarian, so I don't know much about meat and cooking procedures that go along with meat.  I do know that every Thanksgiving my husband spends time basting the turkey.  I think that this involves taking a little kitchen tool (it looks frighteningly like the same thing I use to clean out my kids' noses) and squirting turkey juices back onto the bird.  So . . . you can imagine my surprise when I read these words on the directions for fusible interfacing application, "place fusible side of interfacing on wrong side of fabric, pin, and BASTE along edges with tip of iron."  Why am I squirting turkey juices on my fabric with an iron?  Anyone?  

Thankfully, the internet came to my rescue, and I was able to find out that you don't actually fill the iron with turkey juice.  Thanks goodness!  And this is where my first adventure in absent-mindedness came in.  I basted and basted, ironed and ironed, and yet, my interfacing would not stick to the fabric.  After about five minutes of that, I realized that I had the interfacing facing the wrong way, and I managed to baste my interfacing to my press cloth.  

My second adventure in absent-mindedness happened when I felt a moment of success after finally getting the interfacing fused to the fabric - not the press cloth - only to realize that I fused it to the wrong fabric . . . oh come on . . . are you serious?  Unfortunately, yes! 

And that brings me to my third adventure in absent-mindedness . . . the source of my guessing game.  When I finally got the gel-pen roll sewn, I sat there looking at it thinking, "hmmm . . . I feel like something is missing."  It took me about three minutes to realize that I had completely forgotten the ribbon needed to keep it closed.  Duh!  So I ripped out some of the seam, inserted ribbon and did some more sewing.  Ta da!  It's hard to believe after all that but the gel-pen roll done!            

Congratulations Tana!  May this gel-pen roll find happiness if your home.  Thanks to everyone who guessed, and thanks for reading! 

I found some super patterns at Hobby Lobby the other day, and I'm going to try one more of these before I start my next project. 

Craft on!