Sassy Fibers by Sonja

And the quilt top is complete.....

2011-12-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

Process Challenge/Pink Quilt for Baby Rose

2011-12-23T20:47:00.000-08:00

Well here is a preview of what I have done so far.......The close-ups look more red, but they are really pinks!

The pink quilt for Baby Rose

2011-12-18T10:08:00.000-08:00

Well a few weeks back, I got a custom order for a baby quilt. Before I sign on to do a custom order for anyone, I always want to know more about the person it is for. I think that is what gives me the inspiration not only for the design, but also for the fabric selection.
I met with Diane to discuss my process, & show her some samples of my work~taking 2 completed quilts, and several others in different stages of construction, so she could see my seams. Then we discussed the quality of the fabrics that I use, and the batting....and why I use them....I like to let the person know what those cost because I figure that a quilt is something special that you give to someone, & you want it to last many years of normal use, so I don't scrimp on my materials. So we are both satisfied that the finished quilt will be something special, just as she wanted.
Now we get down to the inspiration for the quilt itself.....
Well it's for a baby girl, so she wants a girly girl quilt in pinks....and I ask more about the child. Well come to find out that the baby girl is her boyfriend's grand daughter, and she was born pre-mature. She was still in the hospital the day we were talking, but was doing well, and was scheduled to be released in a few days. Then I asked what the baby's name was, and she said her middle name was Rose~that is when the light bulb went off for the focus fabric.....I told her that I would be back the next day with the fabric samples, but that I already had something in mind.
I had a print that I had purchased for another order that didn't work out, which was pink roses on a white background. When I took that bolt the next day~I explained why I had chosen that fabric for the focus of the quilt....the smallest of little pink rose buds represented the child being so tiny when she was born, the bigger buds being her growing and getting stronger everyday, and the rose all bloomed out would represent the baby growing into a normal girly girl, that smiles, laughs, and plays just like all children do, and she was on her way to becoming a beautiful but special little person. Well with all that said....Diane told me that as soon as she saw that fabric, she knew that It was the "ONE". I should have this quilt done by the end of the week, & pictures will be forthcoming....It's a dreary day outside today, so I'll have to wait for a better photo op day~
Take care everyone in blog land... and Merry Christmas to you ALL!
xo~Sonja~

Cheri Quite Contrary: DIY Lightbox Tutorial

2011-12-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

Cheri Quite Contrary: DIY Lightbox Tutorial:
Wow!!! I must do this!
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Blog Hop Party with Giveaways!

2011-12-11T17:52:00.001-08:00

Just found out about this on Sugarlane Quilts. You can join up here

My new tool~The AccuQuilt Go!

2011-12-09T18:22:00.001-08:00

Yep, I finally took the plunge and ordered this yesterday while it was on sale. It arrived this morning, and now to re-organize my sewing room, so I can use it. I have a custom quilt that I am working on, & 3 more people waiting in line to pick their colors, & theme. (So I need this tool!) Merry Christmas to me!!! I feel sorry for my broken piggy bank, but if I spend more time sewing, & less time cutting, I think it may pay for itself in a few months.

Noted: The Entrepreneurial Generation | The Etsy Blog

2011-12-07T10:53:00.000-08:00

Noted: The Entrepreneurial Generation | The Etsy Blog:

Great read!!!

This was my comment.....

Very thought provoking concept. As a 50+ single female trying to survive in today's economy, I had to fall back on what I knew, which is sewing. I majored in art, & business in H. S., but no higher education, because I had to work too much. I have spent my life working for someone else, & making them $$$. Now I can't buy a job..... Starting a business doing what I love has always been a dream for me, & I was actually forced to do it.....I may not have taken the plunge otherwise. I just wish I had taken photography LOL! The kick in my pants though seems to be everyone's fascination with quantity, & not quality. In a culture where everything is disposable, & cheap to replace sickens me, & it's hard to find anything made in the USA anymore. I am sticking to my guns regardless. I don't make crap, & I'm not buying it either~if that is all there is~then I will go without. Why??? Because I can, & I'm used to it already.

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Before I Die & Candy Chang - StumbleUpon

2011-12-06T22:44:00.000-08:00

Before I Die & Candy Chang - StumbleUpon:

Wondering what I would write.....this story is amazing.

WHAT'S ALL THIS?

Candy Chang is an artist, designer, and urban planner who likes to make cities more comfortable for people. She's a TED Fellow, Urban Innovation Fellow, and co-founder of Civic Center and Neighborland. This is her site. Please enjoy.

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Dallas Cowboys Busy Cook Apron - Sonja Threadgill Nelson - Picasa Web Albums

2011-12-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

Dallas Cowboys Busy Cook Apron - Sonja Threadgill Nelson - Picasa Web Albums:

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Puppy Love Quilted Fabric Postcard 1 by sassyfibersbySonja on Etsy

2011-12-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

Puppy Love Quilted Fabric Postcard 1 by sassyfibersbySonja on Etsy:

stumble upon

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Nótt by Dina - Living, Dreaming With Some Crafting in Between: Tutorial : DIY Friendship Bracelet

2011-12-01T03:17:00.000-08:00

Nótt by Dina - Living, Dreaming With Some Crafting in Between: Tutorial : DIY Friendship Bracelet

I just joined stumble it......this is great!

Christmas Cats 2011 - a set on Flickr

2011-12-01T02:09:00.000-08:00

Christmas Cats 2011 - a set on Flickr:

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Paw Print Fleece Scarves

2011-11-11T22:16:00.001-08:00

Well I missed my Wed. blogging about my hump-day happiness, and my Wed. workshop doings.....
I was cutting fleece scarves, assembly line style the entire day that I spent at the workshop. When I came home, I stayed up really late sewing them....& was too pooped to move! Here are a couple of pics of those that I did get fringed out, & ready to wear.

Paw Print Fleece Scarves

The one on the left is cut every inch....the one on the right is cut every 1/2 inch creating the fringe. That is my favorite one on the right.

Closeup

On my mannequin...whom I found in a dumpster......isn't she great! The price was good too:) This scarf was cut at every inch to create the fringe. I had never worked with fleece before, so this was my initiation project. I found it to be quite easy, but it dulls your rotary cutter very quickly. Also you need a dedicated cutting mat solely for fleece......or use the backside that doesn't have the grids.
These measure 7 1/2 inches wide x 60 long. You can see the other scarves if you click on my flickr photo stream button.
I'm a little late on this as well, but Happy Veteran's Day! I support our troops, past present, & future!

Baby Quilts

2011-11-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

My John Deere Quilt

The Hot Pink & Chocolate Butterfly Quilt......

Progress Today on The Christmas Quilt

2011-11-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

My Wed. workshop was FABULOUS!!!
I had enough time to not only get 1 project ready to quilt, but I also got an old WIP ready to quilt. YAY!!!
1st up~my poinsettia Christmas quilt.....I looked through all of my yardage...& I have LOTS... for a peach color for the accent border....well no dice on the peach. Next choice was yellow that is found in the flower centers....I am so glad that I talked myself into it.....it really pops!
So the accent border is a yellow print, & the final border are more of the Christmas Trees. The quilt is now layered & pinned.

So what do you think about the yellow?

Project #2 is a Christmas Table Runner that Kimba designed for 1 of our Yahoo groups....I think it was from 2008.....so I have had this pieced for a very long time.....Now it's ready to be quilted too.

Today was a very great day! Happy Hump Day to all of you.

~Sonja~

Here's How We Can Blog To Get Americans Back To Work | BlogHer

2011-11-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

Here's How We Can Blog To Get Americans Back To Work | BlogHer:

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The Christmas Quilt/Wed Workshop

2011-10-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

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"

2011-10-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-24T03:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-24T03:35:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-21T10:31:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-21T06:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-19T21:34:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-19T21:21:00.000-07:00

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???

2011-10-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

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.