Christmas Queen

This weekend, I made another felt Christmas ornament—a Christmas queen! Before I got started this time, I did a little research in preparation—I read up on the basics of embroidery. I tried hard to be neat, but, despite my best efforts, things went awry and several knots ended up on the outside of the ornament instead of on the inside where they belong. Oh, well. I was able to cover up most of my mistakes with the queen’s fabulous feather boa and “diamond” earrings.

My ornament-making always involves numerous trips to JoAnn Fabrics for fancy trimmings. I love going to JoAnn’s. It always feels like a stroll down memory lane since my sister Kris and I practically lived there when we were teens. Back then, we were really into designing and sewing our own crazy clothes, which were hilariously flamboyant and poorly constructed and eventually helped earn us a nickname around town: “The Double Weirds.”

Our homemade outfits were so dumb and funny (for example, we tried to copy Sting’s on-stage look during the Synchronicity Tour), but it was heaven dreaming them up. We’d sit poring over the big pattern books in the sunlit store—excited, enthralled, our stomachs full of butterflies. The aisles of tulle and satin and lace would fill me with joy and inspiration—just as they do when I shop at JoAnn’s today. A sign I saw by the cash register on Saturday expressed my feelings exactly: “Sew much fabric, so little time!”