What's she makin' now?

In early December last year I stopped by the annual holiday bazaar at our local senior center.  I always enjoy browsing through the room they set aside for flea-market trinkets. It was there that I had a light-bulb moment.  Wouldn't it be fun to combine one of my needle-felted creatures with an old timeworn object that had been languishing in someone's musty, mildewed basement?  So I picked through the offerings and found this small weathered ladder. I just knew it would be the perfect complement to one of my handmade whimsies.

Mr. Gadget offered to clean it up for me and add a couple of coats of sealer.  He's learned never to question my reasons for choosing whatever it is I send down to his basement workshop for remedial work.  Early on I told him, "Don't worry, it will be wonderful!"

So, my plan is to affix two elves to the ladder. One will stand near the top rung holding an ornament for a Christmas tree. The other one will be down closer to the bottom with more ornaments in hand.  I'm counting on the ladder (it's about two-feet high) to lean nicely against a Christmas tree.  And I'm imagining that when people see it they will say, "Oh wow!  What a clever idea!"

You can see some of my felting process in this sorry-looking elf.  But he will soon come to life and you might be pleasantly surprised at my elf-making abilities. I've never made an elf before.  But I'm confident. I'll just add some little pointy shoes, a colorful pointy hat and an eye twinkle to my gnome blueprint.

And here, sitting on the top rung, is a cat with no ears. (No, he's no relation to the elves.) He had ears until yesterday when I yanked them off. They just weren't right. They weren't cat ears.  I have to listen to my inner-crafter intuition at all times.  It rarely steers me wrong.  I find cats difficult to needle-felt.  The body isn't the problem.  It's the head. It's hard to get the snout (do cats have snouts?) the right shape.  But I will perservere because I like cats.  Did I ever post a photo of my clay cat sitting on a rock?  Mr. Gadget claimed it for his man cave.  I will show it to you next time.

Now I must go and sit in my recliner to rest up from a very busy day of doing absolutely nothing.