Little Felted Animals by Marie-Noelle Horvath is a sweetheart of a book for beginner needle felters, with projects that are well illustrated and it gives the beginner a chance at making a charming product your first time. Create 16 Irresistible Creatures with Simple Needle-Felting Techniques by following the step by step pictures and you will be able to create one of the adorable animals or birds in this book. There is a supplies and tips section in the book that explains what is involved in basic needle felting such as tools and wool roving color palette. There is also a lesson on how to add glass eyes to these felted darlings which does make them realistic. Three dimensional needle felting is a fairly easy technique and this book gives you clear instructions for creating 16 animals and birds in miniature. These projects make wonderful Christmas decorations. Dimensions and detailed instructions are given for the following animals and birds: blackbird, brown bear, Chartreux cat, Turkish Van cat, Dalmatian, fox, Jack Russell terrier, koala bear, mouse, penguin, polar bear, rabbit, robin, seal pup, sheep, Welsh Corgi. Marie-Noelle Horvath, is a great source of inspiration offering techniques on how to shape precious small animals. I love the mice pictured above! Pick up a copy at Amazon.com if you want to learn this growing craft or win one here on Craft Gossip Felting, you will love this book. In the comment area, just type “enter me” for a chance to WIN this book by a random drawing. This giveaway will run 9-6 through 9-19! Good Luck!
Have you read?
Colorful Christmas Tree Cross Stitch Patterns
There’s no rule that says Christmas trees in real life have to be green, and there’s no rule in cross stitch that Christmas trees have to be green, either. While I love a good traditional looking tree (in reality or in cross stitch) there are lots of fun other choices, which we’ll explore here.
Looking for more Christmas tree cross stitch patterns? Check out this post from last year.
I am going to start with a traditional tree, but this one has a lot of color thanks to the lights and other decorations on it. This one is form xCountingtheStarsx, and it uses 20 colors. Worked on 16 count fabric it comes out to about 5.6 by 9.25 inches, or 14.2 by 23.5 cm, with a stitch count of 90 by 148.
These fun designs from Catholic Sprouts have traditional tree shapes but are filled with fun patterns and colors. These would be fun to stitch as a set or you can make each of them and give them as gifts to different people or use as holiday cards.
The Christmas tree shape is a little less literal in this swooping design from Well Stitches. I like this one because it only uses one color so it’s great for beginners, but it still looks dramatic. It is 109 by 155 stitches, which comes out to 7.99 by 11.07 inches, or 19.78 by 28.12 cm on 14 count fabric (dimensions for other counts are also included if you want to make it smaller).
And if you want to go for all color, check out the Merry and Bright Christmas tree cross stitch pattern from Tapestry Barn. This pretty skinny tree is surrounded by multicolored snowflakes. The designs on the tree remind me of knitting patterns. And even though it’s lots of colors, it’s only worked with whole stitches and no back stitching. It looks lovely on dark fabric! The piece measures about 7 by 7 inches, or 18 by 18 cm, on 14 count fabric.