Something followed me home today...

Did you even know that Simplicity makes sewing machines?  Neither did I.  Neither did some of the employees at JoAnn's...and they certainly didn't know where they were hiding!  Actually, I still don't know if they make sewing machines, because I was narrowly focused on finding out about this puppy, as soon as I heard about it being 50% off:

I've been wanting a felting machine for some time now (actually ever since I saw this super fun Au Bonheur coat of Shams'.....yeah, there she goes, enabling me once again......)  Note:  even though she hand felted her coat, she got a felting machine shortly after, and by the time I saw the coat in person I wanted that machine!.   But I could not justify a $300 price tag for something that would probably not get THAT much use...just a fun toy.   A REALLY fun toy, but still....

So a little birdie over at Pattern Review mentioned that JA's had this Simplicity felter at 50% off.  I didn't know how much it was, other than the sales flier putting the max price of the Simp machines at $139.99.  Since I had to do some grocery shopping nearby anyway, I thought I'd just pop on in and check it out.

And you know what happened.

$139.99, minus the 10% JA VIP discount, plus 9.5% tax, plus a candy bar, and my grand total at the register was $138.71.   And don't you just love the way JoAnn puts, in LARGE LETTERING, at the bottom of your receipt:

TOTAL SAVINGS

154.12

Gosh...I saved more than I spent.  How does that work, again?  (Die hard spenders and consumers need not answer)  ;-D

I had already researched the heck out of felter/embellishers, and knew what I wanted (the Janome, with a cartridge that would allow me to replace individual needles, but the cheapest price I could find was $350.00).  Since I'm possibly only going to use it on 2 or 5 projects a year...eh.....couldn't justify it....  Given the fact that this machine comes with a 12 needle cartridge, AND you can replace the individual needles, and it probably does exactly the same sort of work that the Janome does, I justified the cost about 3 minutes after looking at the box.  Maybe 2.  Or 1.

I was so excited about my new toy that I forgot to stop at the grocery store.   That's OK, I'll find something in the fridge...and my beets are ready to pull from the garden :)))

These machines are SO simple!  I didn't even bother opening the manual.  I had, after all, watched 2 videos of it being used, so I'm practically an expert already, right?

Here's my first plaything:

The fabric is Polartec fleece; the cream-colored bunch at the left is chenille...this was pretty much a fail, and I thought the fleece might be too thick & close knit (which was disappointing, because that's one of the items I want to felt with), but then I tried a thinner yarn & punched it over an organza-like ribbon, & it worked perfectly.

Ohhhhh, I'm going to have fun with this!  It looks like it's mostly one of those organic, you-don't-really-know-what-you're-going-to-get-until-you-try-it experiments, which is right up my who-knows-where-I'm-going? alley, and I'm already seeing all sorts of smiles emerging from my new toy. :)  

And I can definitely use some extra smiles right now. :)

Maybe I'll even end up using it more often than I think...?  Do you have any little-used but uber-fun sewing toys that give you pleasure?  Or toys you didn't think you would use, but ended up loving?  Or even, things you thought you would love but ended up in the back of the closet?