Welcome to Bear Creek,
Welcome — I’m Teresa Perleberg, the founder and owner of Bear Creek Felting.
I’m a needle felting sculpture artist, shepherd, and educator, and wool has been at the center of my life for nearly two decades. I raise my own flock of sheep, work hands-on with their wool, and teach others how to needle felt through kits, retreats, and my online Needle Felting Academy.
Sheep, wool, dyeing, carding, making things by hand, and building something meaningful from the ground up aren’t hobbies for me — they’re simply the way I live and work.
From Wool Curiosity to Bear Creek Felting
I’ve been raising sheep and needle felting since 2006, and I opened Bear Creek Felting in 2008. Like many people, I didn’t realize I had artistic talent until I discovered wool. Once I did, everything clicked.
What began as a small Etsy shop grew quickly into a full-time business. Over the years, Bear Creek Felting has reached customers in every U.S. state and dozens of countries worldwide. Through my kits, classes, retreats, and the Academy, I’ve helped more than 20,000 people learn to needle felt — many of whom never considered themselves creative before picking up wool.
My work has been featured in North Dakota Living, Better Homes and Gardens, The Furrow magazine by John Deere, Mary Jane’s Farm, Sheep, Australia’s Homespun magazine, Wall Street Journal and the UK’s Cross Stitchers magazine. Books: Artistry in Fiber: Sculpture by Anne Lee and E. Ashley Rooney, Raising Animals for Fiber by Chris McLaughlin. Etsy’s featured artist October 2015 and Etsy’s Quit your Day job January 2017.
What has always mattered most to me is the work itself — the wool, the process, and creating something honest and lasting with my hands.
A Chapter That Shaped the Dream: The Nome Schoolhouse
As Bear Creek Felting continued to grow, I began looking for ways to support and strengthen the business long-term. Because the mill processing my fiber was such a critical part of that process, partnering our businesses felt like a natural next step. We began searching for a place where those pieces could come together.
That search led me to the Nome Schoolhouse.
The building was beautiful, full of history, and worth saving — even though it had been sitting empty and deteriorating for nearly fifty years. From the very beginning, I saw more than a shared business location. I envisioned a place where people could come to escape, learn about fiber arts, meet my sheep, and experience wool from pasture to finished piece.
I was a co-owner of the Nome Schoolhouse for six years, with three of those years spent deeply involved in the renovation. During that time, I helped shape the vision and worked to transform the old schoolhouse into a space for creativity, education, and gathering. What began as a practical business decision quickly grew into something much bigger — a dream of place, purpose, and possibility.
That chapter taught me a great deal about building something from the ground up, about leadership, and about how essential it is for my work to reflect my values.
Choosing Alignment & Carrying the Vision Forward
As that season came to a close, I knew I wanted my work to fully reflect my own values — how I lead, how I teach, and how I care for both people and materials. Stepping away allowed me to continue the vision I’d been building in a way that felt honest, sustainable, and fully my own.
What I’m creating now isn’t a new dream — it’s a clearer one.
Bear Creek Felting Today — Fort Ransom, North Dakota
Today, Bear Creek Felting is based in Fort Ransom, where I have my own shop, classroom, and wool mill. This is where I host needle felting retreats, teach in person, and run the creative heart of my business.
My sheep are raised on our family farm, and my husband Jeff plays a big role in caring for them. Beyond the pasture, I personally guide every step of the wool process — from washing and dyeing to carding, blending, and assembling the wool used in my kits and artwork. Having my hands on the entire process allows me to maintain quality, consistency, and integrity from fleece to finished piece.
The Fort Ransom space is more than a storefront. It’s a working wool mill, a teaching space, and a place where people gather to learn, create, and reconnect with themselves through making. It is the natural continuation of a dream I’ve been building for years — now fully shaped by experience and values.
Teaching, Retreats & the Needle Felting Academy
I host in-person needle felting retreats in Fort Ransom for beginners and experienced felters alike. These retreats are intentionally small, welcoming, and hands-on — designed so you feel comfortable, supported, and inspired whether it’s your first project or your fiftieth.
For those who can’t travel, my Needle Felting Academy offers structured, encouraging instruction online. I teach the way I wish I’d been taught: clearly, patiently, and with deep respect for the material.
My goal is never perfection — it’s confidence, joy, and connection.
Life With Wool
My days are shared between caring for sheep, working in the Fort Ransom mill and studio, managing the business, designing new kits, filming Academy tutorials, and hosting retreats.I also love weaving, knitting, watercolor painting, and exploring digital art with Procreate. Much of my inspiration comes from the animals in our care and the wide-open prairie that surrounds us.
Every piece I create carries that sense of place.
Why I Do This
Needle felting is more than a creative outlet for me. It’s a way to stay rooted — to the land, the sheep, and the tradition of making things well — while inviting others into that experience. Every sculpture, kit, and lesson carries the story of the wool, the hands that shaped it, and the place it came from.
If you’re here because you’re curious, searching, or feeling pulled toward making something with your hands — welcome.
Explore Bear Creek Felting
Needle felting kits and supplies
Wool grown specifically for needle felting
Blog articles on wool, felting, and farm life
In-person needle felting retreats in Fort Ransom, North Dakota
How to choose a quality needle felting brand.
Thank you for being here.
— Teresa Woodbury Perleberg
Needle felting is more than just a creative outlet—it’s a way for me to stay rooted in my heritage, my flock, and the land I love. Every piece I create carries the story of the prairie, the sheep I’ve cared for, and the dreams my family has nurtured across generations.