From gross to great in one hour or less

I despise ironing with a passion, but I've had to learn to get over that, somewhat, since I've become serious about sewing.  As every tutorial you ever read on the Internet tells you, ironing fabric and seams makes the difference between lumpy, obviously homemade projects, and the stuff you are proud to show off. 

This is what my ironing board cover looked like at 7 p.m. last night.

And this is what it looked like at 8 p.m.

I used some fabric I had bought on sale at IKEA a few months ago, thread and elastic from my stash, and this free tutorial.  It was so easy that I can't believe I didn't do it sooner!