My new felting machine

Ladies and gentlemen, I just finished writing a story, for the June 2013 issue of HR Magazine, describing and explaining changes to Mexican labor law that were enacted and took effect in December 2012.  So what?  I mention that story by way of explaining why it took me a while to get around to trying my new felting machine.

My  Baby Lock Embellisher was delivered about a month ago, but until today, it's sat on my work table, challenging me to learn to use it.  Today, now that I finished the article--okay, and overcame the cold feet I sometimes acquire in the presence of a new piece of technology--I broke out the instruction manual, plugged it in, and started.

It looks like a sewing machine, and it has needles like a sewing machine, but it doesn't use thread

Instead, these special barbed needles push through layers of fiber and mesh them together

Today I broke in my new felting machine by working on this felted piece.  I wet-felted it recently, and today, I started using the felting machine to add embellishment.  It's based on the photo below, an image of a path high above the Atlantic Ocean, traversing the dune in a north-south direction between Nauset Light Beach and Marconi Beach within Cape Cod National Seashore. 

I can stop reproducing this image any time I want.  I just don't want.

So, right now, I'm adding tiny squares of silk as leaves, and the barbed needles are meshing them right into the wool roving.

Fun!