The toolbox is nice and it helps me to stay organized but the essentials for me are a glove and a needle. Even better than the glove is a piece of suede. An extra pair of glasses helps when I put in the detail. On Christmas Day I made my needles a Cozy. It works well and was easy to make first I needled some wool then I stuffed it into an unused eyeglass case and needled some more. I put the needles in it then put on the cover. Voila!
For me needlefelting is like magic. I never know what will appear until I needle away at the fluffs of wool. I might start off with a general idea but what comes is usually a surprise. I have even tried to duplicate the process and still each wooly has it's own character.