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• Muffy Kashkin Grollier

Artist Muffy Kashkin Grollier loves animals, which you can guess as soon as you walk into her big yellow house in Orwell. In addition to a pair of Labradors, there are kittens, a rooster or two, big-horned sheep, alpacas, goats, puppies, flamingos, and baby dragons. The house isn't quite as crowded as it sounds, though: Only the Labs are real.

The rest of the menagerie is felted — which explains how Grollier is harboring dragons. An assortment of other fantasy creatures — fairies, elves, trolls and witches — reside here, too. ("I have always believed in fairies," Grollier confided.) They're not exactly animals, but they're decidedly nonhuman. They're also super cute.

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• Felted rooster by Muffy Kashkin Grollier

Needle felting is the art of creating images by pressing tufts of sheep's wool into a canvas or other fabric with a special serrated tool. The wool can be purchased as bits of fluff or in longer strands called rovings, natural or dyed. The resulting pictures are fuzzy — you really want to pet them. Grollier calls the process "painting in felt," and that's a plausible description of her work.

Grollier is the artist of the month at the Brandon Artists Guild, which is featuring a display of her large and small 2D felted pieces in frames. But she won't bring her 3D doll-like creations there. The gallery doesn't have protective glass cases, she said, and since people like to handle the figures, they can get dirty over time. If you want to buy, say, a tiny blue "docile dragon," or taller characters such as a forest elf, you'll have to visit Grollier in Orwell or shop her website. For those who are into Christmas fantasy, she also makes Santas.

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• Felted goat by Muffy Kashkin Grollier

Grollier grew up in Needham, Mass., with an artist mother. "She was a painter and calligrapher," Grollier said. "We were always doing something creative." Later, she attended Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design; in 1975, she moved to Vermont with her then-husband.

Now she introduces artful enterprises to children at the small daycare she runs in her home. "We do painting, clay, building with blocks," Grollier said. "There are a lot of outdoor activities incorporating nature. The kids need to explore."

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• Felted dragon by Muffy Kashkin Grollier

She works on her own art as time allows. Grollier has also written a children's book, Gregory, Gregory Hates His Food, and felted all the illustrations (photographed for the pages). She's working on another book featuring classic nursery rhymes.

Grollier turned to needle felting about 12 years ago after taking a class in doll making, but visitors can see some of her earlier paintings at her home, too — portraits of people and animals, landscapes, florals. What she learned from using chalk pastels also applies to felting, she said.

"You have to layer the colors," Grollier explained. "With both, the under-color shows through."

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• Felted elf by Muffy Kashkin Grollier

Indeed, the hues in her felt paintings are rich and nuanced, and even convey the play of light and shadow. But working with wool has one advantage over pastel or paint: "I can pull it out if I don't like it," Grollier said with a grin.

An even nicer perk? "Working with wool," she mused, "it's like the spirit of the animal is with me."

View Grollier's work at muffykg.com or at the Brandon Artists Guild.