New Bernina QE - foot - feet - toys!

I stopped in at my Bernina dealer today planning to drop my QE off for a regular maintenance check only to discover the repair person is off this month. While there, of course, I had to look around at the latest in everything. The new QE has been in the shop for the sum of 2 weeks and the owner say's she's addicted to it. She actually sold one while I was there! This machine has a unique foot that allows you to sew without a foot petal! You regulate the sewing by moving the fabric - and was a breeze for free-style quilting! Alas, I'm not in the market for a new machine and the new foot won't work on any other models... Boo..Hoo.. The book "The Art of Manipulating Fabric" by Colette Wolff was a Christmas gift to myself and had me examining the gathering and ruffler feet for my current machine. I have a Bernina 1030 as well as last year's QE - some feet are interchangeable, but not all. Now the shop owner, Lois, knows me well and she invited me to try a brand new foot called a Needle Punch. It's an odd looking piece that requires taking some parts off the machine before it can go into place. It has 3 needles placed in a tiny triangle - none requiring thread!!! This is literally a punch needle something like a mini-multiple rug punch, but not really. It comes with a software CD to show when, where, why + how to use it. Primarily, it has been designed for putting down loose fibers - wool roving, stretched yarns, shredded felted fibers, etc. all without thread. It has a wonderful clear curved oval protecting the needles & keeping the fibers from getting tangled in the process of sewing. Once the front roving has been attached, one flips to the back and does mover needle punching to completely secure the roving to the base fabric - she used boiled wool for her base fabric. Now this foot is a pricey little gem, but since I have just been hired to team teach a new course at school, I have a little extra for such things as new sewing/creating toys. I'll try it on my machine tomorrow - a new adventure. What fun!