My New Toy

This past week I got an early Christmas Present…….a needle felting machine!!! I had decided to use the money from my Mom and M-I-L to make this VERY unnecessary purchase. I spent quite a bit of time researching them and finally decided to buy a “Janome Xpression”.

It is a machine that has five barbed needles that punch fibers together to form felt. I have done a bit of felting using a hand punch, but found that it took too long to finish a project…..at least too long for my tastes!!!

On the first day, I only had about 30 minutes to play, so I did a small flower on a black background…..nothing fancy. Yesterday, however, I spent some time playing with the different colors of roving that I had, along with several different kinds of yarn and decorative threads. The result is not particularly professional, but has worked to give me a good feel for the machine.

I took the piece that I made and cut it into two long rectangles and turned them into bookmarks to be given to two friends from my gym. I originally had punched a hole in the top of the felt and put a ribbon in, but became afraid that it wouldn’t withstand any pulling, so I ended up folding over the top section and stitching it together to make it sturdier. I was also concerned about whether or not the edges would eventually ravel, so I got out the sewing machine and sewed a blanket stitch around the edges.

Nothing fancy, but a fun exercise!!!!

Now, back to the UFO’s!!!!