One of These Things is Not Like the Others...

...and boy, is it a bummer.

One of my main ministry areas at church is with the Girls Ministry; I am the lead sponsor for both the Teen Girls Clubs (Friends...grades 6 - 8 and Girls Only...grades 9 - 12).  The girls earn various rewards through all the years in Girls Ministry for completing units of study;  up to grade 5, they earn patches that go on a sash.  In Friends, they earn charms for a necklace, and in Girls Only, they earn enameled pins that have no particular place to be worn.

So, I debated a number of things we could do; in the first year of the club, the (then) only club member made a tote bag as a craft for one of the units, thinking it would be a good place to put the pins.

But they snagged on things and fell off.  Not good.

Then I happened to think about the mantles I made for HMC graduations in years past and thought that those would be a good thing to use for pins; the girls could wear them at the advancement ceremonies and have them for the final graduation ceremony when they leave the clubs.

And, as my first student was rapidly approaching her final graduation, I thought I'd better get on it.

Never mind that the data base migration is at the crunchiest crunch time.

So, I worked around out of town trips and late nights at the office and got the mantles (we're calling them 'stoles'...which is really what they are) all put together, then remembered that Hancock's had been short one 'G' and a set of tassels when I bought the supplies.

I fused the letters/numbers on and sewed the tassels on all but one last night; stopped at Hancock's on my way into work to pick up the other supplies, then sat at work 'till late printing the certificates that I will hand out to all my girls tomorrow on the nice big copier/printer instead of our desktop printer (experience has proven that home printers do NOT handle card stock well).

Then I came home, sewed the tassels on the last stole and fused the letters/numbers on.

This one was going to be my daughter's; I'd planned to take the others in and put the pins that were still at church on them for the other girls...just forgot 'em.

Anyway.  Here are the finished items (my Senior already has hers w/ 2013 on it):

Sigh.  Somehow I twisted the last one when I laid it on the ironing board and the fusing happened on the WRONG SIDE.   And there ain't no pulling them off...

Of course, it's only noticeable when they're all together but my melancholy daughter was rather unhappy that I'd messed hers up.

So she promptly texted one of the other girls to find out if she would mind switching.


I can make a replacement...but not in time for tomorrow night's ceremony.

Sigh.  I knew I should've waited till in the morning...

(postscript a bit later:  friend says she doesn't mind.  That's a FRIEND.)