The Christmas Quilt/Wed Workshop

Howdy bloggers!
I just don't know why, but Wed. is becoming 1 of my favorite days of the week. I am so blessed that I can finally say that I do have a special day, with a small band of women who gather in the back classroom of the local Hancocks Fabric store. We had a little Halloween party, and some good food on the buffet table, & Judy brought some little gift bags in for prizes for the fun little games that we played. I was the winner of 1 of them YAY!!! We had a terrific time!
Then it was down to some sewing business! Yes, I do post about the things I have been working on....when I remember to take all the parts with me, so I can.........(remember I forgot part of it last week...giggle)

Well here are some pics of the Christmas Quilt that I have been working on with the poinsettia focus fabric that I bought at least 5 yrs. ago that I could not bring myself to cut because it was so pretty. It is from a Michael Miller Collection, but I have had it so long that I don't remember the name of it (drats!!!) Anyway, all the strip sets are sewn together finally, & it's all squared up & ready to find an accent for the border which will be a 1 inch strip, so after it is sewn it will be a 1/2 inch....YIKES!!! Then I add the remaining green border, & it's ready to be layered & quilted. Which reminds me to go shopping in my stash for the backing....I hope I have something in peach, which is not only the lightest color in the flowers, but the least color represented in the quilt.....I think it will make it POP!!!
Note to self #1.....those Christmas trees with snow on them is considered a directional fabric....Do NOT do this again until you have had all of your morning coffee, & are bright eyed & bushy tailed.
Note to self #2.....make a list, & pack all of your supplies on Tues. evening, so when you re-make that giant bowl of pea salad for next week that you FORGOT today, that is all you will have left to grab before dashing out the door.
I hereby declare that today I have started my Process Challenge Pledge with this post. 
Please stay tuned for more pics of this quilt next week.

Button Covers that need some "Crafty Love"

Amber Ovals w/a slight dome shape

 I was gonna make some refrigerator magnets out of these, but the fronts won't come off of the backs! They have been in a shoe box in my craft supplies since 1985..........Wonder what glue they used, cause I really need some of that!!!!!!

Textured Copper Round

Faux Bloodstone Surrounded by Silver & Black

Faux Onyx with Hunter Green Streaks

Faux Turquoise

Lavender Textured High Domes

Bright Yellow Flat Rounds

The Pickledish Patch: Hear ye…..Hear ye!! EQ7 Giveaway

The Pickledish Patch: Hear ye…..Hear ye!! EQ7 Giveaway:

http://www.thepickledishpatch.com/store

Another great giveaway for an EQ7 . I want to win this to design and create, and to help out in the "math" department!!! Follow the link above for instructions to participate, & your chance to win.....(stomping feet, but sharing is part of the rules!)

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The Pickledish Patch

The Pickledish Patch:

A generous fellow blogger has a great giveaway running right now for a Go Baby Fabric cutter from Acuquilt, and 3 dies of your choice.... Who would'nt want to win this???? Just follow the link, and enter.

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Janome - Rebecca's Cap

Janome - Rebecca's Cap:

Instruction for making Cancer Caps....courtesy of Janome.

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Recycle This - Creative ideas for reusing and recycling random stuff

Recycle This - Creative ideas for reusing and recycling random stuff:
Y'all need to check out this site. There is a wonderful tutorial on making a purse from a hardcover book, & the up-cycled mirror using book pages is very pretty!

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Printable Grocery Coupons

Printable Grocery Coupons:
I got this from my Frugal Living RSS feed today.....some great tips here.  If you are on a tight budget like me, thought I would share :)

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Hump-day Happiness

It started out as a strange day.....but ended up being a grand day indeed!

First of all, I had to finish up my housecleaning job from yesterday...All I had left to do was to vacuum the downstairs, but Big Fred, & Lance showed up at the house, so I promised to come back today when they would be gone, before going to my sewing workshop, which is my weekly ritual.
For those of you that don't know, I clean my best friend (I call her my sister) Carol's house every other Tues. because she works 2 weeks days, then 2 weeks nights, plus she is my partner at the flea market on the weekends, so she needs the help, & I needed the extra income being in-between-jobs....so it works well for both of us.
My front tire on the car was extremely low, so I go to the Valero up the road to put some air in my tire. Well a car is parked in front of the air machine, with a flat tire....I mean sitting on the rim flat, & the driver is no where to be found......(what a jerk)........so I decide to drive over to finish my cleaning job, because it's getting later, & I need to get back home to pack up my sewing stuff for my workshop........
I am almost finished with the carpet, & in walks Big Fred. After I finish up, I tell him the air machine story. So happens he has a portable air compressor in his trunk, & said not to worry.
He gets out the pump, assembles it & I hook it up....24 psi is what my tire had, & I think it is supposed to be around 41.....yikes. Now this pump plugs in to a cigarette lighter, so it takes a few minutes to fill my tire, but it's a nice day outside, so who cares! When the tire is done, & the pump is unhooked, he goes to remove it from the lighter, & the whole dang connector just falls apart.....:( We spent an hour trying to put it back together, to no avail, & I really felt bad that it happened, & now I am really running late for my workshop.
I make a mad dash home, let the dog out again, & gather up my stuff to take. I load up my sewing machine, then start gathering the Christmas Quilt I cut out, & a few other supplies. The quilt I am working on is from a pattern, which I don't normally use a pattern, but I had a Christmas print that I could never bring myself to cut, because the print was sooooooo beautiful, but this pattern was made for those kind of fabrics, so I bit the bullet
& used it. When I started sewing I noticed that some of the panels were not the same length so I must have read the cutting directions wrong....WOF...LOF....oh my gosh....so I knew I had to take my leftovers with me to cut more stuff, & adjust the pattern when I finished sewing the panels to make it work. Then I needed to take my camera to take pics, because last week I took the process challenge, & this is a great example of that cause I am having trouble with the project.
I finally get to the workshop, & unpack my supply bag....
camera....yes
pattern instructions....yes
extra material.....yes
panels I had started to sew....NO!!!

 I had finally taken my machine, & I left my project at home folded neatly in a stack on my ironing board....so I had nothing to work on, & no photos to take.
Well I did enjoy my time talking to my sewing buddies, got to see all the wonderful things they were WORKING on.....
Now to the Happiness of my day:

While at the workshop, I got 2 sewing baskets, & a brown bag full of sewing patterns for a very good price.
Then I come home & log in to my blog, & find out I have a new follower, & had some comments on my What's your name post.
One of the comments was alerting me that I had won a giveaway on The Quiet Quilter Blog post....YAY ME!!! I never win anything.
My Hump-day Happiness was complete.
Update: Before leaving for my Wed Workshop, I had a quishy in my mail box....Thank you Frances aka The Quiet Quilter. :)

Why did you name your blog That???

Dawn from As Sweet as Cinnamon is having a giveaway. She is asking you to share why you named your blog what you named it.
Well I'll give it a go then.........
My name is Sonja, & I am a natural redhead.....well that covers most of the Sassy Sonja part I think, cause I have been a smarty pants (nice words) most of my life.....It's just my nature, even though it's almost always in a fun way....unless I'm steamed about something....(which is an evil all it's own.)  Also a few of my former co-workers dubbed me that, when I used to have to get on the phone & demand answers to get a situation or problem solved.
The Fibers part came from my earliest childhood memories, making woven pot-holders, putting nails in old wooden window frames to weave on for wall hangings, learning to macrame, learning to sew, playing with leather cords, making corn husk dolls, knitting or crocheting afghans .....you get the picture.....Sassy Fibers by Sonja.

Happy Saturday Morning!

Well it is a wonderful morning indeed! I am so glad that fall is finally here in Texas....& the heat is gone :)
I did get a few more fans on my new Facebook page YAY! I do have some real friends there.......so I thought I would socialize a little while waking up with my cup of coffee in hand.
Sadly in a few days I will be losing my Flickr Pro account, as at this time I can't afford that luxury. I have a list of things that used to be essential, but are now considered luxuries....(Strange how life is always throwing you curves like that.)
On my list to do today: I have at least 30 prs. of blue jeans to de-construct for my up-cycle projects. I have a Christmas quilt that I cut & started piecing at my sewing workshop on Wed. I have all those pink bags to make for the bank.....laundry....blah blah blah.....& stuff to pack up for tomorrows flea market adventure. My list seems to always exceed my time on hand LOL! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention to list a few more items on Etsy, drag out the UT quilt & see how much more work it needs........transfer some more pics to my fan page, before they disappear from Flickr......a girl's work is never done!
Oh and there is a a video I need to share from one of my newsletters that I receive from Joggles....let's not forget that!

Tell your friends and family, share this on your blogs. (permission to share from Barb in my e-mail)
Today we're playing with Tyvek.  Paint it, add some heat, and be amazed at what happens!  Tyvek is not new, but I find that many people wonder about what to do with it.  Now seemed like a good time to replace the old tutorial that only had still photos with a video where you can see the movement and fun things first hand.  Tyvek and heat play well together so long as you separate them with a pressing sheet or apply heat from a distance and you'll see both in today's video, which you can see here:

And I leave you with 1 of my 1st fabric postcards that I made back in 2007....Have a blessed day!

Pumpkin Pie

Appliqued pumpkin, with stenciled vine. My 1st try at using stencils, & fabric paint. This card was sent to a soldier serving in Iraq, thru Penny" postcard Posse.

Sassy Fibers by Sonja

Sassy Fibers by Sonja:
Well I created a Business Page on FB....I already have 9 followers & 4 other businesses listed.
Follow me on my Facebook Page
Now if I could get some followers on my blog........
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Piec-lique by Sharon Schamber | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Piec-lique by Sharon Schamber | Flickr - Photo Sharing!:

Piec-lique by Sharon Schamber

Product Description
Award-winning quiltmaker Sharon Schamber shares her quiltmaking secrets from her years of professional garment sewing. Her need to produce projects fast and accurately evolved into a new machine technique she calls 'Piec-lique' (pronounced like applique). This method provides the speed and control to make curved piecing fun. There are four different applications of the technique: layered for gently curved seams, inset for enclosed shapes, combined for seams interrupted by other elements, and free-form for spontaneous piecing without templates. Three dozen gorgeous block patterns have been designed or redesigned with simple curved elements. The author's original designs include beautiful flowers, like the simple daisy, charming blue bells, and sophisticated black-eyed Susan. Quiltmakers will also find excellent information on fabric selection and help for figuring yardages.

Editorial Reviews

Piec-Liqué: Curves the New Way by Sharon Schamber doesn t just come from a quilter; it comes from the originator of a new method of quilting: one which uses curved shapes from piecing which looks like appliqué. Thirty-six block pattern examples using this simple curved technique range from flowers to block quilt patterns. No pins are needed to use Piec-liqué, which helps make curved piecing without pins. -Library Bookwatch, September 2005, Midwest Book Review

Product Details
Paperback: 112 pages
Publisher: American Quilter's Society; 1 edition (June 15, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1574328808
ISBN-13: 978-1574328806
Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
sassyfibersbySonja.etsy.com

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Quilts with a View by Faye Labanaris by sassyfibersbySonja on Etsy

Quilts with a View by Faye Labanaris by sassyfibersbySonja on Etsy:

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BOOK MUSEUM Art of the Quilt History by sassyfibersbySonja

BOOK MUSEUM Art of the Quilt History by sassyfibersbySonja:

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Think Pink! It's October

Last weekend a fellow Flea market vendor across the aisle from me noticed that I had been pounding nails under my roof line

to hang some of my hand-sewn wares. My blue jean aprons that I previously blogged about, & some hand-sewn canvas bags, &

totes; some made by my friend Charlotte.

Well as it turned out, she is a big wig at 1 of the local banks during the week, & on the weekends she is selling fun doggy supplies

which was her hobby, but now has turned into a growing on-line business.....but back to my original story.....

Anyway, it turns out that she had purchased a pink ribbon tote from 1 of the other vendors who is no longer at our market, so

she inquired if I might be interested in sewing up some totes for her clients at the bank. That is part 1 of my story.....

Today, I was going through some boxes with various items enclosed, trying to decide what to keep, what to trash, what to sell,

& what to donate. In 1 box I found some old calenders I had saved....I guess because the pictures where pretty, & they inspired

me for future projects.....& decided that maybe I should go through each page to see any notations that may have been written

down for that year....hence part 2 of my story......

Sept. 18th 2001

Dr. Appt. mammogram. That was my 1st & only mammogram, I hadn't realized that 10 yrs. had gone by.....coincidence or not?

I'll let you decide, but in the meantime I have included a link to the 25th Year of NBCAM.

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Celebrating 25 Years of Awareness, Education, and Empowerment:

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Sewing Projects: 24 Beautiful Purse Patterns — Tip Junkie

Sewing Projects: 24 Beautiful Purse Patterns — Tip Junkie:

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Some really great stuff found here!!!

Fabric storage....a new idea

Well we all struggle with it....especially if you are a stash monkey like me. Well you need to check this out now. It is a wonderful solution to organizing your fabric, using old record albums... I am ashamed that I didn't come up with this idea myself :(
http://craftingagreenworld.com/2011/10/02/how-to-upcycle-cardboard-record-album-covers-for-fabric-storage/

New Inspirations.....Artists!

Corita Kent (1918-1986) was one of the most important American
graphic design artists of the 1960s and 1970s.
A Roman Catholic nun from 1936 to 1968, Corita Kent
gained international recognition as an activist and artist.
Corita developed her own version of pop art in the early
1960s and gained fame for her bright-colored
serigraphs that combine pop graphics
with a sharp literary style.
Corita’s work appears in the permanent collections of over 40 major museums, including the National Gallery, Metropolitan Museum,
Museum of Modern Art, the Bibliotheque National in Paris,
Victoria and Albert Museum in London,
Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.


Source: http://www.thegalerii.com/worksfolioscollections/Corita/corita.htm