Did someone mention a PARTY...?

Before the quilt show, I had a little stash-busting blitz to refresh my display of purses. I think they look like they're having a purse-party.

Amongst it all, I rediscovered the quick-fix joy of making the Party Purse (pattern HERE). This purse was originally inspired by the memory of (many years ago) when I was bridesmaid for my best friend.

On the morning of the wedding, I realised that I had no purse to carry the essentials for the day. Having made the my own dress (and the flowergirl's) , I was able to whip up a matching wristlet with a few leftover scraps before getting dressed for the wedding. It wasn't this design, but the idea stuck....
A girl need a super-fast go-to pattern when she's caught without a matching purse.

This purse needs to be small enough to be elegant but large enough for all the essentials ...and it needs to be a wristlet, to free hands up for glasses of champagne, canape's and conversational gesticulations.
It needed to be infinitely variable, to suit a wide range of fabric types, occasions and personal styles. And it needed to be EASY AND QUICK TO MAKE. .
That's what the Party Purse pattern is all about.

So chock-full of instant-gratification was I, in my little Party-Purse-making frenzy, I found myself whipping these up and not wanting to stop. But stop, I did (other fish to fry). I took photos and then forgot all about blogging them.... so here they are, at last.

*****

PS. Many thanks to those of you who contacted me after receiving my latest newsletter. For some of you, it was the first ever (despite some of you being on the mailing list for years). It appears that we now have an email manager that actually SENDS the newsletters, so I'll be more inclined to use it as a medium of communication. If you'd like to subscribe to semi-regular (ok... it's actually quite sporadic) news about classes, products and sales, you can do so right HERE.

Clearance of Discontinued Stock

Our suppliers are constantly changing their offerings - bringing in new things and discontinuing others....it's good and bad. Either way, it's hard to keep up. I've been meaning to put up a CLEARANCE ITEMS page on the website for ages but it hasn't happened yet. In the meantime I thought I'd let BLOG READERS in on a few bargains...

25% Off on these discontinued handles (first in, best dressed... Email Leah with your order).

We have 1 pair of #21 Blue handles (190cm wide). Normally $13.50. Now $10.10

1 pair #11 Blue (13cm wide). Normally $9.50 - Now $7.10

2 pairs #3 clear (13cm wide). Normally $10 - Now $7.50
1 pair #3 amber (13cm wide). Normally $10 - Now $7.50

We also have a few incidents where the suppliers have sent us the WRONG THING, and it's been more trouble to return them than keep them.

The 40mm Square rings are now 45mm!!! Same price as 40mm (although worth slightly more). We don't have any of the 40mm left in stock right now but the 45mm look the same ...only 5mm longer!

We still have more of these magnets. LOTS of them were sent by mistake, so we're selling them at near cost.

By the way - If you're on my mailing list you should have received an email last night. If you didn't, could you please check your JUNK MAIL FILTERS and un-junk my email? You have to let it into your allowed list or future email from me will keep being swallowed up. We're looking into overhauling the mailing list (along with the whole website) so hopefully we can clear up this little... ahem... glitch.

Bag Ladies who Brunch

We launched the new BEACH bag pattern on the 25th May, and had a little shindig to bring together bag-making gals from all over - to "gas bag" and network, to eat scrummy food and to catch up on all that is new at Nicole Mallalieu Design. We also took the opportunity to run an awareness and fundraising campaign for OvCa - the Australian Ovarian Cancer Network. We raised just under $200 in three hours, and I hope we raised a lot of awareness about Ovarian Cancer.

It's taken a while to blog this because I didn't have time to take photos on the day, and had to wait until I caught up with SUPER SARAH to get the images she captured.... HERE THEY ARE!

We were lucky enough to have Living Creatively there - lending their support and giving everyone fantastic goodie bags filled with Fiskars and Birch products, and we had gorgeous door prizes from Mix Tape Zine, Meet Me at Mikes, Kimono House, The Cat's Meow, Living Creatively and Spencer & Rutherford.

All in all, a good day!