cruising into august . . .

We are so enjoying these lovely fall days.  Ummm...only it's summer.  Trust me, I am NOT complaining!! We had some of the most beautiful weather ever this past month . . . hard to believe it was July in Alabama. In fact, we set a record low temp this week . . . the record -- 61° -- was set in 1914.  One hundred years ago.  And the low that broke the record?  A whopping 57°!  C-R-A-Z-Y!

More of the same here.  Enjoying family and grands.  

I think . . . in this picture . . . Sawyer's telling the two girls about giants in the camp. June paid absolutely NO attention to him. Ellie rode around the camp for the rest of the evening with her hands over her eyes because she didn't want to see scary giants.

Look how big Miss Olivia has gotten!  And she's just started smiling on purpose -- it's such fun!!  She is definitely a Sawyer/June sibling, too . . . they all look very similar at this age!

Also studying lessons and preparing for discipleship classes. Keeping up with turtles and other camp-related things.  

July is usually the slowest month of the camp, because generally it's so hot, humid and mosquito-ridden, that no one wants to be up here.  Not the case this year!  

I have been working on a couple of little things. And one big *surprise* kind of thing that I need to wait a while to share. I think I've decided that the space in the new RV is actually better workspace than what I had in the old RV:

I love the counter top space in the kitchen ... perfect for rotary cutting!  Haha!   took up a challenge to make some bookmarks.  Good way to use up scraps!

They were easy and whipped up really quick.  The tutorial for the book mark is HERE and the tutorial for the fabric flower at the top is HERE.

Joc called me on Tuesday of this week from Hancock's (fabric store).  She was looking for material to make curtains for Ellie's "big girl" room.  Yes, that's happening . . . Everley is due in a MONTH.  Anyway, Joc is talking to me on the phone and realizes she's lost track of Ellie.  Where does she find her??

Girlfriend had found the fat quarter wall!  She is my granddaughter, there's no denying it!  Joc said her little hands were so full of fat quarters that Ellie was dropping them.  Too cute!  And Ellie didn't want to put any of them back, either!

I told Joc to tell Ellie that if she would just pick her favorite TWO fat quarters, Neesey would make her a little purse with them.  It was tough, but we finally managed to come up with these two.

And don't you know, Ellie has reminded me every time she's seen me and every time we've talked on the phone, that I'm making her a purse.  Joc even mentioned that it was the first thing out of her mouth the other morning.  I gotta make good on this purse!

So, here it is -- not too bad, eh?  Just a simple origami-folded drawstring purse . . .

With secret pockets for treasures (and things you might want to hide from a baby sister) . . .

And coordinating accent pieces . . .

With a pearl for the center.  For Miss Eleanor Pearl.

It's how this Neesey rolls.  Happy Friday, y'all!

:)

ur priceless . . .

Ahhhh . . . the lure of a purse.  From the time we are little girls, purses call to us. They are places we can hide our treasures, pocket our dreams, and capture our memories.  The older we grow, the more the things of our lives seem to find their way into our purses.  Often we carry purses *inside* purses!

The focus of this blog hop has been this *sweet* little purse . . . 

After debating for weeks on a theme and hunting for fabrics, I finally decided it just needed to be fun.  And pretty.  And so for the exterior of my little purse, I used a couple of fat quarters from Paula Nadelstern's Patternista line.  The front and back are Hills and Valleys (in olive and pink) and the sides are Sunstone (in olive and gold).  I have no idea what the interior is, except it's pretty and gilded in gold, so naturally appealing to me (and appropriate for a little purse's interior).

I was a little intimidated about starting this . . . I've never really created something that required *hardware* (zippers notwithstanding).  But it was really quite simple to put together and even my first attempt to stitch and assemble took less than ninety minutes ... including tracing and cutting out the templated pieces and stitching on the handles.  And isn't it just the thing a Neesey with two darling little granddaughters should know how to put together?!?  Think of the marvelous things a little granddaughter could put in her little purse . . . 

Perhaps she keeps her growing collection

Or maybe her secret treasures

Or perhaps her tooth fairy money and allowance

The seashells from her last trip to the beach

What's left of her Halloween candy
(there's no chocolate ... her Neesey ate it all!)

Finds from her walk in the woods

MOMMY!!  Brother took everything out of my purse!

Or perhaps, like her Neesey, she carries a priceless, eclectic mix ... of things she's collected and treasures that remind of her special moments and people, a quarter or two for good measure and something sweet to nibble on -- except there's still no chocolate.

Be sure to check out *ALL* the priceless creations on the rest of today's tour . . .

I Love Wool

I Like to Quiltblog

Keep Your Fork There's Pie

Retired to Quilt

Selinaquilts

From This to That

Jenny E.

Domestic Deficit Disorder

Pig tales and quilts

CherrysPrairiePrimitives

Espritpatch

Maria

Count it *all* Joy!!!  (this is me!  :)

Creative Notions

I would be much remiss if I didn't take a moment to offer a heartfelt thanks to our tireless and creative Madam Samm for this darling idea and the *marvelous* set of instructions ... and our hop cheerleader and organizer, Katherine!  And if you are thinking you'd like to make one (or two or thirty) of these darling little purses, patterns are available HERE!

Thanks for dropping by today ... I hope you were inspired to make a little Priceless Purse of your own

:)