How To: Needle Felted Fruit - Pear

The last in the series of Needle Felted Fruit for pretend play. I've shown you how to make a Needle Felted Kiwi Fruit where you also learned how to blend fibers with a carding brush, and a Needle Felted Strawberry.
Today we will use a slightly different method and materials to create this pear and save on wool roving. Curious?

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How To: Needle Felted Fruit - Strawberry

Last week I showed you how to make a Needle Felted Kiwi fruit for fun pretend food play. This week you can add to your felt fruit collection with this cute little strawberry. It's very easy to make and a good place to start if you are new to needle felting.

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How To: Needle Felted Fruit - Kiwi

Emma loves playing with pretend food, so I thought I would add some felted fruit to her collection. She loved when I surprise her with little gifts, what kids doesn't? Although I'm sure she'd prefer a My Little Pony if she knew they existed. Today I'll show you how I made this kiwi fruit, and also how to use carding brushes to blend roving colours.

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How To: Needle Felted Rattle Ball

It's been a while since I posted a needle felting project, so I thought I would treat you to something a little bit special. I really love the idea of children playing with toys made from natural materials like wool, it's really important developmentally to give them a rich sensory experience that plastic toys just don't offer.
This needle felted rattle ball is a simple project, and I guarantee you will want to make more than one. A perfect gift for a special newborn or toddler. With a melodic jingle bell as a chime and it's woolly tactile surface, both child and parent will appreciate this fun toy.
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How To: Bunny Hand Puppet

I made this little bunny puppet a couple of years ago from an old sweater. It requires minimal sewing skills, and if you don't have a sewing machine, it is a small enough project to stitch by hand.
With Easter on the way soon, why not give a gift that can be enjoyed all year around.

For instructions and template...

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How To: Needle felt Heart Garland

This is a very easy and pretty project for those new to needle felting. Make as many hearts as you like to decorate with love this festive season.
For a beginners guide to needle felting you should check out my previous post: Needle Felting Basics

You will need:
Wool roving (assorted colors)
felting needle and pad
Heart shaped cookie cutter (metal or plastic)
embroidery thread in a complementary colour
Tapestry (long) needle
scissors
How to:
1. Gather your supplies, we will be using the cookie cutter as a mould for our felt shape.
2. Stuff the mould with some wool, to avoid the risk of needle breaking make sure the thicker lip of the cutter is up most.
3&4. Start needling the wool to flatten and compact, add more wool if required. To avoid felting the shape into pad, lift it out of the mould and turn over regularly as you needle. Remember to keep your needle at a 90 degree angle to the pad so there is no risk of breaking the needle against the metal cutter.
5&6. Once you are happy with the thickness you can remove the mould and do some surface needling to tidy up the fuzzy stray wool fibers.
7. Repeat in assorted colours until you have as many hearts as you like. I've made seven.
8. Arrange your coloured hearts. Don't they look pretty? Take a long strand of embroidery thread and thread your needle. Make a big knot in the end
9. Thread on your hearts.
10. Space your hearts out on the thread and make a loop for hanging at the top. All done!

This garland looks lovely hanging from a door knob, or make a long one and string around your Christmas tree. You could even try using different shaped cutters for a fun assortment of different themed garlands, stars, spots, or even little gingerbread men maybe?

I'm sure you will enjoy this project. Please feel free to leave any question in the comments.