New Favorite Thing

Mr. Hunting Creek gave me a needle felting machine for my birthday, after I had expressed a desire for one after seeing an article about them in one of my magazines. He ordered it ahead of time, which should go down in some kind of husband present-giving hall of fame. He’s come so far from the bicycle pump of our first year of marriage! (When I asked, somewhat pointedly, why he had given me a bicycle pump out of the world of gift giving opportunities, he replied, simply, “Yours was broken, so I thought you needed one.” He can be a bit pragmatic)
After playing with it last week, I had one of those epiphanies that has to be followed: Needle felted Christmas stockings. Needle Felting is my new Favorite Thing. Felt is awesome, and my machine is even awesomer.
There are handheld felting needles, but the machine makes it easy enough for a complete neophyte to use. I bought some wool-blend felt and started messing around.
I happened to see a ball of yarn on top of my Wall o’ Fabric. (I had hidden it there to keep the cats away from it. It’s true, they do love to unroll yarn. Unroll all of it. Down, down the stairs and around the chair legs...but I digress.) I needle-felted the yarn on top of the denim blue felt. See top picture. It looked awesome. I then decided to do a Dr Seuessian inspired dots and shapes for the other side.

Felt will stick to felt, so it is easy to lightly tack the appliques where I want them, then go back and really felt them down. Here's the back, so you can see the fibers have meshed and attached the applique firmly. 

Here are both finished sides:

Here is the finished stocking:

This felting is fun, and easy and nothing is a mistake. My favorite kind of art. Hardly any learning curve, and the results are amazing. This weekend I’ll go looking at the thrift store for some wool sweaters to felt. Then I have plans for it. Serious plans.
Have you needle-felted anything yet?