Needle felted tree stump

I've been working on this tree stump off and on for a long while. Mostly off, to be honest. I made the stump core and then had many failed attempts at dyeing wool brown. After I finally broke down and ordered some.. well.. I just didn't get to doing anything with it. That is, until earlier this week. Maybe I started last weekend. I can't recall.



Next time I make one of these, I'll start the inside of the core with brown - adding it after was interesting. I can't say whether or not this will stand up to being played with. In fact, I don't know that anything I've made thus far (aside from a car and a few balls) would tolerate playing well. I'm game to find out, though.



The stump (ignoring the branch) is roughly five inches tall, four inches wide, and three inches deep. Roughly. The leaves are cut from a wool blend felt that I had laying around. I can't find 100% wool felt locally and don't have the currently financial resources to buy any at the moment. So it's not all wool, but I'll live.

Next up will be a wee round gnome to live in the stump. Maybe more than one gnome - it depends on how it turns out. After that, I think I'll take up the challenge of possibly making a dragon. Of course, I also need to make the play mat that I have planned for the Elf's birthday in mid-August. I think I've found affordable plain wooden figures to go with it, though, which is an accomplishment I think.