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	<title>Indie Fixx &#187; Books</title>
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	<link>http://indiefixx.com</link>
	<description>Indie like a foxx</description>
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		<title>Indie Fixx Book Club: Swamplandia! Book Review</title>
		<link>http://indiefixx.com/2012/04/25/indie-fixx-book-club-swamplandia-book-review/</link>
		<comments>http://indiefixx.com/2012/04/25/indie-fixx-book-club-swamplandia-book-review/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:54:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>indiefixx</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indie Fixx book Club]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indiefixx.com/?p=17995</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Heather McCaw is a visual artist and occasional art writer with  an  eclectic background in painting, newspaper editing, English  literature,  and Middle Eastern studies. She runs her own blog and has her own Etsy shop and she  shares a review for Swamplandia! for a long overdue installment of the Indie [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank"><img title="reading" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/reading.jpg" alt="indie fixx book club" width="590" height="150" /></a></p>
<p><em>Heather McCaw is a visual artist and occasional art writer with  an  eclectic background in painting, newspaper editing, English  literature,  and Middle Eastern studies. She runs her own <a href="http://heathermccaw.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">blog</a> and has her own <a href="http://etsy.com/shop/heathermccawart" target="_blank">Etsy shop</a> and she </em><em> shares a review for Swamplandia! for a long overdue installment of the </em><em><a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank">Indie Fixx Book Club</a>.  <a href="mailto:jen@indiefixx.com?subject=book%20club%20challenge">Get in touch</a> with me if you want to contribute to the Book Club by writing a post. xoxo –  jen!</em></p>
<p><img src="http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5171/5432890622_3ab52e482f.jpg" alt="" width="270" height="400" /></p>
<p>{{image from by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mvlslibrary/">mvlslibrary</a>}}</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<p>I think everyone should read Karen Russell’s novel <strong><em>Swamplandia!</em></strong> Especially read this book if you are a child of the eighties or have  ever had the privilege of visiting an old Florida mom-and-pop tourist  trap. This book breaks new ground using magical realism to explore a  forgotten pocket of the American experience. Thirteen-year-old Ava is a  member of the “Bigtree” tribe whose spunky Florida island theme park,  “Swamplandia!” is in steady decline. Ava is determined to follow in her  mother’s footsteps as a great alligator wrestler, but larger forces are  at work, eventually leading her on an unforgettably surreal and  transformative journey.</p>
<p>Tragedy, violence, humor, and folksy charm intertwine like so many  mangrove roots in this complex but riveting narrative full of rich  description and mythological overtones. Read this book and you will  never forget the Seth of Seths (the granddaddy of all the Bigtree  alligators) or how you inwardly chuckled every time the name <em>Swamplandia!</em> is mentioned in the text, exclamation point and all,  even in the  middle of a sentence. Also, read this book because it was screwed out of  the <em>Pulitzer Prize</em> for which it was short-listed. No book was awarded this year, apparently a sign of deadlock on the committee. Nevertheless, <em>Swamplandia! </em>is a masterpiece and deserves recognition as such.</p>
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		<title>Spring 2012: Stencil 201</title>
		<link>http://indiefixx.com/2012/01/20/spring-2012-stencil-201/</link>
		<comments>http://indiefixx.com/2012/01/20/spring-2012-stencil-201/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:14:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>intern</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indiefixx.com/?p=17414</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[by guest contributor Heather Buzzard

Your spring class load is here, and it&#8217;s light, easy, and outlined in silver! Stencil 201 with Ed Roth is your first and only assignment. This cheeky follow-up to his first workbook is more like a delightfully designed folder to hold all your favorite outlines, and includes 25 reusable stencils and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>by guest contributor Heather Buzzard</em></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/burrrbearlove.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17437" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/burrrbearlove.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="394" /></a></p>
<p>Your spring class load is here, and it&#8217;s light, easy, and outlined in silver!<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stencil-201-Step---Step-Instructions/dp/0811877906/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1326830052&amp;sr=1-2" target="_blank"> Stencil 201 with Ed Roth</a> is your first and only assignment. This cheeky follow-up to his first workbook is more like a delightfully designed folder to hold all your favorite outlines, and includes 25 reusable stencils and a clear DIY guide with projects of gorgeous leather necklaces and funky haircut designs (including a handy recipe for DIY wheat paste). The clear pliable plastic that Roth used to create the designs lies exceptionally flat, allowing for the maximum detail to shine through. Paint is only the first of a thousand mediums these stencils can be used with, and the book covers a good range of embroidery, plastering, glass etching, and pastry decorating potential.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/roth.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17427" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/roth.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="394" /></a></p>
<p>While you&#8217;ll probably find yourself at first (like I did) too busy playing with the hands-on stencils to explore the book, once you tire of stenciling yourself wild the book is a great visual idea factory to flip through. Pumped with street art and interior stencil projects, the how-to guide holds an assortment of shiny facts about the artist and author that will substantiate the crush you will have developed on him by now.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/firrr.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17433" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/firrr.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="394" /></a></p>
<p>Ed Roth&#8217;s stencils are pretty hip, no doubt. But in addition to the super-retro typewriter, &#8220;dia de los muertos&#8221; sugar skull, and techie microphone and video camera, there are some one-of-a-kind designs like the bleeding heart plant and Douglas fir that I would be okay with having stenciled on every blank flat surface in my life. In a dream world, Roth&#8217;s stencils would be gargantuan: life size trees and balloon size blossoms to suit whatever space you need filled.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/firrrrrdone1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17435" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/firrrrrdone1.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="394" /></a></p>
<p>I used Roth&#8217;s cutie tweeting birds stencil with a champagne colored spray paint on a green velvet bit of a dress that I&#8217;m making into a flag for a mobile.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/birdz.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17428" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/birdz.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="394" /></a></p>
<p>The groovy grizzly stencil was just the thing this old trapdoor needed to give it an air of bear.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/burrbear1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17432" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/burrbear1.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="394" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/burrbear1.jpg"></a><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/burrbear.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17431" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/burrbear.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="394" /></a></p>
<p>The need to freehand your everyday art is over! No more sloppy paint splattered edges, solid colors, bowl haircuts, or plain undecorated cookies. Thank you, Ed Roth, for making it easy for us to &#8216;Put a Bird On&#8217; our placemats, our reusable napkins, our book covers, our hair, our wallpapers, our compost containers, our camera cases, and yes, even our hearts.</p>
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<td colspan="2" height="14"><strong>About the contributor:</strong></td>
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<td width="60" height="76"><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bio.jpg"><img title="bio" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bio.jpg" alt="" width="60" height="60" /></a></td>
<td width="460"><strong>Heather Buzzard</strong> is a freshly hatched graduate of Emory University, where  she studied creative writing, sociology, religion and environmental  science. Her time is spent frolicking as a musician in two Atlanta  bands, dressing up for silly photoshoots, inventing recipes, and  drooling happily over her Indie Fixx work.</td>
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</tbody>
</table>
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		<title>Design*Sponge at Home&#8230;Goes on Tour!</title>
		<link>http://indiefixx.com/2011/11/15/designsponge-at-home-goes-on-tour/</link>
		<comments>http://indiefixx.com/2011/11/15/designsponge-at-home-goes-on-tour/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Nov 2011 12:40:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>intern</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DIY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interviews]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indiefixx.com/?p=16895</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[by guest contributor Heather Buzzard
These weighty coral texts were never meant to serve as umbrellas, but they were called upon to serve this duty on a rainy Thursday night at Atlanta&#8217;s West Elm, where the reigning online DIY queen&#8217;s first book was celebrated, signed, clutched, petted and hovered over. Grace Bonney and Amy Azzarito double-team [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>by guest contributor Heather Buzzard</em></p>
<p>These weighty coral texts were never meant to serve as umbrellas, but they were called upon to serve this duty on a rainy Thursday night at Atlanta&#8217;s West Elm, where the reigning online DIY queen&#8217;s first book was celebrated, signed, clutched, petted and hovered over. Grace Bonney and Amy Azzarito double-team as a touring duo to promote Design*Sponge&#8217;s first book, encourage local arts by hosting crafting activities in conjunction with the book signing, and spread the wildfire grassroots movement of low-budget, high-personality creativity.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16987" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS1.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="468" /></a></p>
<p>Amidst the flurry of divine gourmet tarts, sparkling lemonade, and fabric paint, Grace shines like a hand-polished gem. The book line snaked slowly only because she was sure to spend a few minutes with every fan, chatting them up about what brought them out and what their connection is with Design*Sponge, whose longtime online presence has now translated into an uber-successful real life. The crowd was beyond beautiful, a polite and cheery mob suited more to a catwalk or photoshoot than a typical book signing. The aesthetic standards of the audience were clearly up to and beyond the philosophy of the book. But there is nothing high-brow or snobbish about this movement: the fact that this blog-to-book transformation has toured packed spaces in dozens of major cities is a tribute to its inclusivity, mass appeal, and good-natured idea sharing.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16988" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS2.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="394" /></a></p>
<p>As a daily reader of D*S, I am one of 75,000 viewers of the virtual tome of  twine, the bible of bell jars, the anthology of wall art. Likewise, these 400 pages (!)  are the printed equivalent of a juice detox; fresh fruity floral funky, and with a little blending and a little cleanup you too can create  something you&#8217;ll feel the nourishing effects of. The book is divided into five major sections: sneak peeks, DIY projects, DIY basics, a flower workshop, and before and afters. The content mimics the website, but is fine tuned and includes over 50 pages of never-before-seen material exclusive to the book. The cross-country book tour event was divided into three sections: crafting (DIY painted resuable napkins), nibbles and mingling, and the signing. Global in scale, eclectic in skill level, distinctly feminine in aura but open to possibility, the book&#8217;s insides echo its cover, which was selected out of 45 possibilities for its timelessness and character.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS3.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16989" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS3.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="381" /></a></p>
<p>This bit from a dedicated <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Design-Sponge-Home-Grace-Bonney/dp/1579654312/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1321339253&amp;sr=8-1">Amazon.com</a> customer review of the book made me chuckle: “WARNING: This book will make you look crazy. I have been carrying this red bible around for weeks like a newborn baby, clutching it to my chest. When people ask me why I have gone nutso, I will gingerly peel it from the front of my shirt and carefully turn the pages for them to see.&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS4.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-16990  aligncenter" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS4.jpg" alt="" width="346" height="500" /></a></p>
<p>The lovely and impeccably hair styled Lady Grace was kind enough to  chat with me for a few minutes in between personalizing enough books to  fill a small library&#8230;our conversation, naturally, flew to treehouses&#8230;</p>
<p><strong>Me: Do you have a favorite Sneak Peek from the book?</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>Grace: My favorite sneak peak is the <a href="http://www.designsponge.com/2008/05/sneak-peek-jessica-helgerson-interior-design.html">Jessica Helgerson house</a> in Portland. It&#8217;s actually the only designer house in the book. But  I don&#8217;t like it because it&#8217;s a designer house, I like it because it  reminds me of a treehouse. My dream is to live in a place like that.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS5.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16991" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS5.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="439" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Me: How was the process of juggling the daily editing responsibilities of Design*Sponge while writing this book?</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>Grace: It&#8217;s really hard. I actually ended up in the hospital aggravating a migraine condition that I didn&#8217;t even know I had! That&#8217;s how much work I did. But it ultimately taught me that I can work a lot more than I even thought I could, so I work much harder and longer hours now than I ever did before. It really taught me to be incredibly efficient with my time.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Me: People have referred to the book as the bible of a movement. What&#8217;s it like to be labeled the leader of this DIY revolution?</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>Grace: It&#8217;s incredibly flattering&#8230;but I think mostly what&#8217;s special about this revolution is that there is no one leader. It&#8217;s a group effort. I think I may have just stepped forward a little earlier in the process, but I really just see myself as part of a larger group movement of people who want to take back design.</p></blockquote>
<p><strong>Me: What&#8217;s next in the works for D*S?</strong></p>
<blockquote><p>Grace: We are bringing in our second full-time employee and getting  our office in January, so that&#8217;s our first big project. We&#8217;re going to  do another newspaper. And we&#8217;re going to do a second book, but I need a  break before I do that one.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS6.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-16992" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DS6.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="543" /></a></p>
<p>I also got the chance to trade stories and smiles with the wondrous Amy Azzarito, joy of all trades. Her take-aways from the book tour reminded me of the utmost importance of the work going on here. Under the influence of financial crises and natural disasters, homes are being destroyed and taken back. With this, design tends to go to the back burner, but this brand of independent budget decor offers homeowners and renters encouragement by teaching them how to make instead of how to buy. Quality design and a thoughtfully crafted home does not come at the hand of an interior decorator or expensive catalog purchases, but with ingenuity, playfulness, and resourcefulness where it&#8217;s least expected. As we were chatting, Amy flipped through my doggy-eared copy of the book to her own Brooklyn home and got a thrill from seeing all the stars and little notes I&#8217;d made about her chic flora and fauna filled space.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSBOOK_DIY_OREK01.jpeg"><img class="size-full wp-image-16996  aligncenter" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/DSBOOK_DIY_OREK01.jpeg" alt="" width="500" height="561" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">Image courtesy of <a href="http://www.designsponge.com">www.designsponge.com</a></p>
<p>Amy&#8217;s home is my favorite of the collection. It&#8217;s impossible to pore through the book without a pencil or photographic memory &#8211; there are so many gold stars to be awarded! On the four-page spread of Amy&#8217;s Brooklyn home, I marked up at least 10 projects or details that were extraordinary, one of which leads to a how-to in later pages (the butterfly dome). The dome is something that I&#8217;ve seen floating around in the idea world of my head for ages now, but had not been able to translate into a feasible weekend craft project until Amy broke down a stunning million-dollar piece into inexpensive, simple, and doable steps. This de-cluttering of the complicated is the magic that the D*S team has going for them.</p>
<p>The idea of the old-fashioned skill share is harkening its way back into popularity. This book is the illustrated and bound version of this share-the-(artsandcrafts)-wealth movement, a manifesto for the hardware store and thrift shop enthusiasts, a guide for those of us with 12 different kinds of craft glue, a membership card for those of us who wear white shoes well after labor day and want our walls to do the same. The space that we inhabit shapes our being, and when we consciously map out our physical landscapes to embody the same ideals that we hold true (beauty, independence, eclecticism, sustainability), we are able to resonate with our interior landscape and vice versa. The Design*Sponge manuscript makes this abstract ambition as simple and intuitive as tying a bow: easy process and splendid result. The design process should not feel learned, but innate, tying a bow to your own rhythm, with your favorite color ribbon, handmade with love and easily undone to fit all shapes and seasons. Love the pages of this book, love these words, and if you end up hot gluing a few together by accident I’m sure you can refer to the website for a handy DIY solution.</p>
<p>Buy the book <a title="D*S" href="http://www.amazon.com/Design-Sponge-Home-Grace-Bonney/dp/1579654312">here</a>.</p>
<p>All event pictures by me.</p>
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<td colspan="2" height="14"><strong>About the contributor:</strong></td>
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<td width="60" height="76"><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bio.jpg"><img title="bio" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/bio.jpg" alt="" width="60" height="60" /></a></td>
<td width="460"><strong>Heather Buzzard</strong> is a freshly hatched graduate of Emory University, where  she studied creative writing, sociology, religion and environmental  science. Her time is spent frolicking as a musician in two Atlanta  bands, dressing up for silly photoshoots, inventing recipes, and  drooling happily over her Indie Fixx work.</td>
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		<title>Indie Fixx Book Club: Good Reads</title>
		<link>http://indiefixx.com/2011/11/11/indie-fixx-book-club-good-reads/</link>
		<comments>http://indiefixx.com/2011/11/11/indie-fixx-book-club-good-reads/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:13:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>indiefixx</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indie Fixx book Club]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indiefixx.com/?p=16928</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Erica Williams from Subtle Acts shares some good reads for the Indie Fixx Book Club.  Get in touch with me if you want to contribute to the Book Club by writing a post. xoxo &#8211;  jen!
I&#8217;m sure that I am not the only one with more books in my “To Be Read” pile [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank"><img title="reading" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/reading.jpg" alt="indie fixx book club" width="590" height="150" /></a></p>
<p><em>Erica Williams</em><em> from <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/subtleacts" target="_blank">Subtle Acts</a> shares some good reads for the </em><em><a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank">Indie Fixx Book Club</a>.  <a href="mailto:jen@indiefixx.com?subject=book%20club%20challenge">Get in touch</a> with me if you want to contribute to the Book Club by writing a post. xoxo &#8211;  jen!</em></p>
<p>I&#8217;m sure that I am not the only one with more books in my “To Be Read” pile than I could ever possibly read.  The pile seems to just keep growing and growing, especially as people tend to pass books my way, telling me, “You are going to love this one!” without actually seeing the stack of books by my bedside just waiting to be read.  And I happily accept these books, hoping that I will wedge them in before I find more books that I just cannot live without.  This, I believe, is part of the common experience among us readers, to collect these little treasures of worlds unknown to us until we finally dig out that long-forgotten book and wonder why we did not read it sooner.</p>
<p>The good news, for you fellow readers out there, is that I am not going to give you a book to add to your ever-growing, slightly tilting stack.  Instead, I am going to tell you about a few books that I think you will love, or at least I hope you will tell me you did.</p>
<div id="allsizes-photo"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2416/2197787625_d10dce5c06_z.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="393" /></div>
<div>{{photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/happyjanssens/">.Delight</a>}}</div>
<p><em><span class="text4">The Turning</span></em> <span class="text15">by Tim Winton</span></p>
<p>If you have not read anything by Tim Winton yet, then I suggest that you catch up with him quickly and begin with this collection of interconnected short stories set in Western Australia.  While I have read most of his novels, it is this short story collection that made me a true Tim Winton fan&#8212;the type that says at during every bookstore visit, “When is he going to write another one?”  In this collection of stories, we see the main characters portrayed at different points of their lives and through different viewpoints, each struggling with an issue that is a turning point for them.  In one of my favorite stories of the collection, “The Commission,” one of the characters, we have witnessed grow up in several of the stories, visits his long lost father as part of his mother’s deathbed wish.  And while the natural tendency may be to despise a character that would abandon his family, Winton’s prose leads you to feel a sort of pity for this character that you would never expect to feel.  This is what makes me love Tim Winton, his ability to turn your mind around on what you think you know.</p>
<p><em><span class="text4">White Noise</span></em> <span class="text15">by Don DeLillo</span></p>
<p>While I was reading this book not too long ago, I kept wondering why I had not already read this purely original, satirical book (it won the National Book Award in 1985).  The story centers around the life and family of Jack Gladney, founder and professor of Hitler studies at a fictional Midwestern college, the father/stepfather of several children, husband to Babette (who has been cheating on Jack in order to get her hands on a drug that lessens the fear of death), and a man with his own suppressed fear of dying.  Okay, I can hear some of you out there grumbling, saying that sounds like real downer of a book.  That is what makes convincing others to read this book such a tough job, because when I say that this book has some of the funniest, most thought-provoking lines you have ever read, people don’t believe me.  But trust me, you will catch yourself laughing out loud throughout this book!  This book is about many things, including the idiosyncrasies of everyday life, the avoidance of fear through any means necessary, the cohesiveness of the nuclear family, the craving for a simulated reality, and a certain airborne toxic event that causes a persistent sense of déjà vu in those affected by its plume.  Not all books make me feel the urge to quickly dive back in as soon as I have finished reading them.  <em>White Noise</em> not only made feel this way, but it also made it nearly impossible to start up a new book because I just knew that nothing else could compare to it.  And that, for me, is the sign of a good book!</p>
<div id="allsizes-photo"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2558/3682167274_4cb259931e_z.jpg?zz=1" alt="" width="590" height="443" /></div>
<div>{{photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/cubistliterature/">CUBIST LITERATURE!</a>}}</div>
<p><em><span class="text4">Super Sad True Love Story</span></em> <span class="text15">by Gary Shteyngart</span></p>
<p>In the not so distant future, people have become a little too connected to one another, with the intimate details of one’s life (hotness ratings, cholesterol scores, credit ratings, etc.) constantly available for public viewing through the use of gadgets called äppärät (which are eerily like the smartphones we all carry now) and the GlobalTeens social network.  The people of the future go to great lengths to remain forever young and to be a part of the current hyper-superficial pop culture in spite of the ridiculousness of it.  The economy has collapsed, huge corporate conglomerations have more power than the government, and books are no longer read since they have been digitized for their data.  It is in this setting that Gary Shteyngart gives us Lenny Abramov, a not so attractive, balding, middle-aged man obsessed with Eunice Park, a much younger, very attractive woman way out of Lenny’s league.  Lenny and Eunice enter into a relationship in spite of their differences, and only in the hands of the witty Shteyngart do these polar opposites stand a chance to remain together.  Unlike <em>Nineteen Eighty-Four</em>, George Orwell’s version of the dystopian future, the characters in <em>Super Sad True Love Story </em>seem much more vulnerable, a little more sensitive, to society’s decay.  You cannot help but see where some of our modern technologies may someday lead us.  And let’s not forget how absurdly funny Shteyngart can be (if you have read <em>Absurdistan </em>or <em>The Russian Debutante’s Handbook</em>, you know how he has a way of bowling you over, making you look ridiculous as you read in the crowded coffee shop).  So, be ready for a laugh if you read this, but be warned: the future does not look too bright!</p>
<p><em><span class="text4">Let the Great World Spin</span></em> <span class="text15">by Colum McCann</span></p>
<p>Set in New York City in 1974 as a tight rope walker journeys across a cable stretched between the Twin Towers, this story follows the lives of several people who caught a glimpse of this feat.  While their lives at first seem disparate from one another, McCann brings out the connections that bind them together to weave a story that is unmatched in beauty and lyricism.  The characters range from an Irish monk living in the Bronx in love with a Guatemalan nurse, to a struggling mother and daughter prostitute, to a wealthy woman mourning the loss of her son in the Vietnam conflict, to a guilt-ridden recovering addict artist that forms an unexpected bond with the Irish monk’s brother.  This is the type of story that giving away too many of the details too soon will spoil the journey.  One thing I can say is that the last few pages of the book, just where you finally understand whose story this ultimately leads to, you will find yourself in sheer awe of the way that McCann puts together his sentences.  This is one of the best, most moving endings I have ever read.</p>
<div id="allsizes-photo"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/495377894_ad80b5f685_z.jpg?zz=1" alt="" width="590" height="555" /></div>
<div>{{photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/onegoodbumblebee/">Katey Nicosia</a>}}</div>
<p><em><span class="text4">The Great House</span></em> <span class="text15">by Nicole Krause</span></p>
<p>When I buy an antique, I always wonder about its history.  Who and how many people owned it before me, where did it fit into their lives, why did they let it go?  In Nicole Krause’s latest book, <em>The Great House</em>, a large foreboding desk connects the lives of four characters who have owned it and who are searching it out.  As the book unravels, we see the desk change hands from a Chilean poet (later killed by Pinochet’s forces) to a lonely American novelist who writes at the desk for 25 years before giving it to a young woman claiming to be the Chilean poet’s long lost daughter.  The story further develops as the history of how the Chilean poet came to receive the desk unwinds.  Those who have lost the desk long for its return; for each character, the desk holds a particular irreplaceable significance.  Loaded with depth and written in the voice of each of the characters, this is one of the best books I have read this year!</p>
<p><em>About the Contributor:  Erica Williams is a self-taught artist that lives with her husband Jeff in their little house full of books in the piney woods of Texas.  Erica opened up her <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/subtleacts" target="_blank">Etsy shop </a>of hand carved designs, Subtle Acts, in October 2010.  She believes in carrying a good book with you everywhere you go, establishing a good relationship with a great bookseller, and sharing the stories you read and love.</em></p>
<div id="allsizes-photo"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/5422487842_c7dcde4acf_b.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="887" /></div>
<div>{{photo by by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/the_lp_flickr/">not.rachel</a>}}</div>
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		<title>Indie Fixx Book Club: Guerrilla Libraries</title>
		<link>http://indiefixx.com/2011/10/28/indie-fixx-book-club-guerrilla-libraries/</link>
		<comments>http://indiefixx.com/2011/10/28/indie-fixx-book-club-guerrilla-libraries/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:58:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>indiefixx</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Indie Fixx book Club]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indiefixx.com/?p=16544</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Amy Foster from How to. Why Not? What the? helps to revive the Indie Fixx Book Club with her post about Guerrilla Libraries.  Get in touch with me if you want to contribute to the Book Club by writing a post. xoxo &#8211;  jen!

{image from Daily Mail} via PC Sweeney&#8217;s Blog. Bondi Beach Library
By [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank"><img title="reading" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/reading.jpg" alt="indie fixx book club" width="590" height="150" /></a></p>
<p><em>Amy Foster from <a href="http://howtowhynotwhatthe.wordpress.com" target="_blank">How to. Why Not? What the?</a> helps to revive the </em><em><a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank">Indie Fixx Book Club</a> with her post about <a href="http://pcsweeney.com/2010/08/25/guerrilla-librarianship-fights-the-good-fight-redefining-libraries-part-3-library/" target="_blank">Guerrilla Libraries</a>.  <a href="mailto:jen@indiefixx.com?subject=book%20club%20challenge">Get in touch</a> with me if you want to contribute to the Book Club by writing a post. xoxo &#8211;  jen!</em></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/article-1247694-08196AB0000005DC-56_634x403.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16714" title="1099272e" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/article-1247694-08196AB0000005DC-56_634x403.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="376" /></a><br />
<em>{image from <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1247694/Bondi-beach-IKEA-bookcase-offers-ultimate-holiday-reading.html" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a>} via <a href="http://pcsweeney.com/2010/08/25/guerrilla-librarianship-fights-the-good-fight-redefining-libraries-part-3-library/" target="_blank">PC Sweeney&#8217;s Blog</a></em><em>. Bondi Beach Library</em></p>
<p><em></em><em>By guest contributor Amy Foster</em></p>
<p>I  am so excited to be writing this post, Indie Fixx and Jen have given me&#8212;someone who has roamed and moved so much around the world&#8212;a sense of  community.  I hope that this post triggers something for you dear reader,  for this is my chance to share and to start the conversation, so I can sit  back and listen in.</p>
<p>I love books.  Books in the library, on  my Kindle, in second-hand shops, bargain bins, as presents, glossy or  worn down (but never out), leather bound with tissue pages,  given and  borrowed.  Books have been my closest friends and oldest companions.   Books and reading are one of my greatest biases, as L.M.Montgomery said  &#8220;I am simply a book drunkard&#8221;.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/OB-OV302_librar_G_20110721214701.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16712" title="OB-OV302_librar_G_20110721214701" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/OB-OV302_librar_G_20110721214701.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="393" /></a><br />
<em>{image by Nick Brandreth for <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461104576458750406784300.html" target="_blank">WSJ</a>} </em>Guerrilla mini-library in Williamsburg.</p>
<p>I know many who fuss that the day of  reading is ending.  That those of  us who are bookworms are becoming few  and far between is the mantra.    Literacy rates are abysmal and the pale  horse of technology is riding  forth. Ironically and sadly, I am  drafting this post on the day that  the world is responding to the death  of Steve Jobs.</p>
<p>As an educator, I have been trained in all the  up-to-date fear mongering techniques to do with literacy.  For example,  did you know (hear my gossipy voice) that in the United States of  America the amount of prison cells being built for tomorrow are based on  the stats of grade two literacy rates.  That&#8217;s right, non or delayed  readers become criminals, according to this train of thought.</p>
<p>Add to  this bit of dismal tidings, the division within the book lover  community to read the &#8216;right&#8217; genres.  High brow, pop culture, glossy  magazines, comics, graphic novels, old, new, e-books, self-published,  Oprah&#8217;s book club, mom and pop book sellers and on and on&#8230;the words and  feelings colliding and arguing amongst themselves.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/3882795950_58ba64ac42_o.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16723" title="3882795950_58ba64ac42_o" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/3882795950_58ba64ac42_o.jpg" alt="" width="589" height="785" /></a><br />
{image via <a href="http://decor8blog.com/2009/09/03/the-community-bookcase/" target="_blank">Decor8</a>}</p>
<p>However in  the spirit of portentious omens and serendipity (Halloween is on almost here), I refuse to be a defeatist.  I have come to embrace <em>Guerrilla Libraries</em> or the &#8216;community bookshelf&#8217;, despite the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903461104576458750406784300.html" target="_blank">controversy</a> that  they are minimizing the function of the public library.  My awareness of the concept of Community Bookshelves began at <a href="http://decor8blog.com/2009/09/03/the-community-bookcase/" target="_blank">Decor8</a>.   Expounding the <em>&#8216;</em>take a penny, leave a penny&#8217; feel good gesture, but  with books and enhancing a sense of community.  I started thinking how  many of us have experienced these sort of community bookshelves  or <em>Guerrilla Libraries</em>, if you will.</p>
<p>As a teenager, I spent some time in  Ethiopia and devoured the entire library, three <em>Reader&#8217;s Digest Select</em> books.  I added to that little library two works by the Bronte sisters  and several teen fashion magazines, I truly felt that I had done a good  deed.  As an adult I have moved across the country with my husband&#8217;s job  and have gone from landlocked to ocean dweller.  Experiencing pangs of  culture shock yet again, I have been saved by another community  bookshelf.  This time its form is a long cushioned bench in our  apartment building where the residents take and leave the printed word.   Leaving a book or magazine, I wonder what the new owner will take from  it.  But finding a new book gives me a unique thrill, this book may be  meant especially<em> for me</em>.</p>
<p>So, have you ever found a  book at just the right time?  Are you willing to leave a book for the  fates to find it a new home?  Do you have a story of every day wonder to  share?</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/library-love-9.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16717" title="library-love-9" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/library-love-9.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="442" /></a><br />
<em>{image from <a href="http://kindnessgirl.com/2011/07/16/guerrilla-goodness-library-love/" target="_blank">Kindness Girl</a>} Guerilla goodness at the publc library. </em></p>
<p><em>About the contributor: Amy Foster is a childcare professional who teaches children and  adults while encouraging the belief in everyday wonder. She currently  resides in the small coastal province of Nova Scotia, Canada  and is a  vegetarian, novice maker, explorer and writer.  She blogs at </em><em><a href="http://howtowhynotwhatthe.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">How to. Why Not? What the?</a>, </em><em> mostly about little local adventures and artists in her new province  that is steeped in fog and set back in time.</em></p>
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		<title>Just a few things</title>
		<link>http://indiefixx.com/2011/09/20/just-a-few-things/</link>
		<comments>http://indiefixx.com/2011/09/20/just-a-few-things/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:31:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>indiefixx</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Designer's Sketchbook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fun Stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Home Tours]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indie Fixx book Club]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Organization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weekly photo challenge]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indiefixx.com/?p=16137</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
 I&#8217;m looking for folks who want to share share their homes via a virtual home and/or studio tour. You can see past examples here.
 Do you want to share a book you just read, put together a curated collection based on a book, do a top ten book list or have some other idea [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/justafewthings1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16139" title="justafewthings" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/justafewthings1.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="65" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16141" title="1" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/1.jpg" alt="" width="16" height="18" /></a> I&#8217;m looking for folks who want to share share their homes via a virtual home and/or studio tour. You can see past examples <a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/a-peek-inside/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16142" title="2" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/2.jpg" alt="" width="16" height="18" /></a> Do you want to share a book you just read, put together a curated collection based on a book, do a top ten book list or have some other idea for the <a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank">Indie Fixx Book Club</a>? Get in touch, the Book Club is long overdue!</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/3.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16143" title="3" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/3.jpg" alt="" width="16" height="18" /></a> I&#8217;m also looking for designers who want to share their creative process from the sketchbook to the finished product. See what I&#8217;m talking about <a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/a-peek-inside/" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/41.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16144" title="4" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/41.jpg" alt="" width="16" height="18" /></a> Are you an organizer? Solved an organizational problem or have one that needs solving? Please share for <a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/organization/" target="_blank">How Do You Organize?</a>!<a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/5.jpg"></a></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/5.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16145" title="5" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/5.jpg" alt="" width="16" height="18" /></a> I&#8217;m also looking for folks for both <em><strong><a href="http://indiefixx.com/joie/index.html" target="_blank">Joie</a></strong></em> and Indie Fixx who are interested in writing and sharing <a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/tutorials/" target="_blank">holiday-themed tutorials and diy projects</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/6.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-16146" title="6" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/6.jpg" alt="" width="16" height="18" /></a> Finally, I&#8217;m thinking it&#8217;s time for another <a href="http://indiefixx.com/tag/weekly-photo-challenge/" target="_blank">Weekly Photo Challenge</a>&#8230;.do you have any thoughts on a theme? Leave your suggestions in the comments.</p>
<p><strong>To get in touch, you can email me <a href="mailto:jen@indiefixx.com?subject=just a few things">here</a>. </strong></p>
<blockquote></blockquote>
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		<title>Indie Fixx Book Club: The Summer Book Swap page</title>
		<link>http://indiefixx.com/2011/07/28/indie-fixx-book-club-the-summer-book-swap-page/</link>
		<comments>http://indiefixx.com/2011/07/28/indie-fixx-book-club-the-summer-book-swap-page/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:55:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>indiefixx</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Guest Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Indie Fixx book Club]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indiefixx.com/?p=14994</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[
Kerry from Darlin shares her Summer Book Swap for the  Indie Fixx Book Club. Get in touch with me if you want to contribute to the Book Club by writing a post. xoxo -  jen!

{{image from A Beach Cottage}}
By guest contributor Kerry
It&#8217;s  such a pleasure to guest blog here (really, I think the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank"><img title="reading" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/reading.jpg" alt="indie fixx book club" width="590" height="150" /></a></p>
<p><em>Kerry from Darlin shares her Summer Book Swap for the </em><em> <a href="http://indiefixx.com/category/books/indie-fixx-book-club-books/" target="_blank">Indie Fixx Book Club</a>. <a href="mailto:jen@indiefixx.com?subject=book%20club%20challenge">Get in touch</a> with me if you want to contribute to the Book Club by writing a post. xoxo -  jen!</em></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/031p2-650x431.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14995" title="031p2-650x431" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/031p2-650x431.jpg" alt="ribbon books" width="589" height="390" /></a><br />
{{image from <a href="http://www.abeachcottage.com/2010/06/a-beach-cottage-decorating-ideas-with-vintage-books.html" target="_blank">A Beach Cottage</a>}}</p>
<p><em>By guest contributor </em><a href="http://darlingdisarray.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Kerry</a></p>
<p>It&#8217;s  such a pleasure to guest blog here (really, I think the work Jen does  is phenomenal) and I&#8217;m very excited to be able to share the details of  my new interactive, literary project with you today. First, let me ask  you &#8230;</p>
<p>Have  you ever opened the pages of a second hand book only to find it laden  with lists, notes and exotic postcards belonging to owners past? Have  you found the most mouth-watering recipe for chocolate cake wedged  behind the cover of a book that hasn&#8217;t been opened in decades? Perhaps  you&#8217;ve purchased a book at a flea market only to discover it was once,  long ago, used as a hiding place for photographs, locks of hair and love  letters?</p>
<p>If not, let me tell you, it&#8217;s quite simply the most delicious thing in the world.</p>
<p>It happened to me just a month ago.</p>
<p>I  was working in the garden when the sky suddenly became very low and  threateningly swollen; all grey, silver and purple. Dashing inside, I  put the kettle on the stove to boil for tea. While I waited, my  attention turned to a package of old books I’d acquired at a thrift  store for little more than a dollar. My intention had been to break them  up and use them for craft projects. As I began to unwrap them though,  the house shook with an overwhelming, crash of thunder and they tumbled  to the kitchen floor. As I gathered them up, I could barely believe my  eyes. The books had been used as a hiding place for a series of  scrawling, passionate love letters, written in the 1950s. The kettle  whistled for a very, very long time as I read them.</p>
<p><span class="text4">And thus, the idea for an interactive summer book swap was born.</span></p>
<p><em><strong>This is how it works.</strong></em></p>
<blockquote><p>1.<strong> Open to residents all over the world</strong>, this literary project is my brainchild and is held over at my blog <a href="http://darlingdisarray.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Darling Disarray</a>.</p>
<p><strong>2. Once  you have signed up for the free swap on <a href="http://darlingdisarray.blogspot.com/p/summer-book-swap.html" target="_blank">The Summer Book Swap page</a></strong>, you  are assigned a swap partner (you can specify whether you would like to  swap within your own state, country or internationally). You must then  choose a book title to send to your new partner. This is your choice  entirely. It can be any genre or length, old or new, and provides a  great opportunity to introduce your favourite authors to others.</p>
<p><strong>3. Before  packaging the book and trotting along to the post office,</strong> participants  are encouraged to get crafty between the pages. Some members, for  example, have created fictional, antiqued love letters and hidden them  throughout the book. Others have slipped postcards of exotic  destinations, scrummy recipes or vintage photographs inside. In some  cases, books have arrived with a selection of homemade treats for  members to enjoy as they read.</p></blockquote>
<p>The idea is to create a story within a story, in the most deliciously enticing way!</p>
<p>If  you would like, you can blog about your package on receipt and leave a  link on <a href="http://darlingdisarray.blogspot.com/p/summer-book-swap.html" target="_blank">The Summer Book Swap page of Darling Disarray</a>. Non-bloggers can  write a description of theirs in the comments too. Every month, I will  pick my favourite, creative swap and send a wonderful literary prize to  the winner.</p>
<p>I  really do hope you’ll be able to join us on our literary adventures  this summer. Head on over to Darling Disarray now to sign up!</p>
<p>With love, Kerry x</p>
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		<title>Stamped Tea Towels &amp; 1, 2, 3 Sew</title>
		<link>http://indiefixx.com/2011/07/19/stamped-tea-towels-1-2-3-sew/</link>
		<comments>http://indiefixx.com/2011/07/19/stamped-tea-towels-1-2-3-sew/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:12:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>indiefixx</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crafty stuff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Guest Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tutorials]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://indiefixx.com/?p=14970</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Today is a stop on the blog book tour for 1, 2, 3 Sew: Build Your Skills with 33 Simple Projects—Bags, Accessories, Home Accents, and More. I&#8217;m sure you all are familiar with the author, Ellen of  The Long Thread, and her her lovely, lovely blog. Well, Ellen has written a lovely, lovely book  filled [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Today is a stop on the blog book tour for </em><em><strong><a href="http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,9189/" target="_blank">1, 2, 3 Sew: Build Your Skills with 33 Simple Projects—Bags, Accessories, Home Accents, and More</a></strong>.</em> I&#8217;m sure you all are familiar with the author, Ellen of  <a href="http://thelongthread.com/">The Long Thread</a>, and her her lovely, lovely blog. Well, Ellen has written a lovely, lovely book  filled with sewing projects that are designed to develop your sewing skills.</p>
<p><em>Ellen is actually here today to share a project with you based on one from the book&#8230;just to give you a small taste from the book. <img src='http://indiefixx.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';)' class='wp-smiley' />  Enjoy!</em> xoxo- jen</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/123-sew-book-cover.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14974" title="123-sew-book-cover" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/123-sew-book-cover.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="635" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/stamped-tea-towels.jpg"><img title="stamped-tea-towels" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/stamped-tea-towels.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="295" /></a></p>
<p>First off, thanks to Jen for being part of the <em><strong>1, 2, 3 Sew blog tour</strong></em>!</p>
<p>The first project in the book is the Fruit Tea Towels (see image below). As simple as stamping and sewing a straight line, this project is a good introduction to sewing for beginners. In each chapter, there are three projects that allow you to build on the skills that you&#8217;ve learned with the previous project. Here in the Dining &amp; Dishes chapter, you&#8217;ll make simple tea towels with folded corners, then a set of napkins with mitered corners, followed by a table runner incorporating mitered corners and divided pockets. Learn as you sew and create useful yet pretty projects.</p>
<p>We use a ton of tea towels around our house, preferring them to paper towels. I also think they make lovely gifts. Today I&#8217;ll show you a different version of the tea towels, made simply with fabric paint and stencil sponge brushes.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/stamped-circle-tea-towels.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14975" title="stamped-circle-tea-towels" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/stamped-circle-tea-towels.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="400" /></a></p>
<p><span class="text4">How-to: Stamped Tea Towels</span></p>
<p><strong>Supplies (for 4 towels):</strong></p>
<p>-one yard of white cotton fabric<br />
-quilt batting or felt (18&#8243; x 22&#8243;)<br />
-foam stencil brushes<br />
-fabric paint in your choice of colors<br />
-water<br />
-cups<br />
-fabric scrap for practicing</p>
<p>1. Pre-wash and dry the fabric. Cut it into four 18&#8243; x 22&#8243; pieces. Lay one piece of fabric on top of the quilt batting (this will serve to soak up any excess paint).</p>
<p>2. Mix the fabric paint with a bit of water until it has a watery consistency.</p>
<p>3. Dip the foam brush into the water/paint mixture and practice stamping on a scrap piece of fabric. Then simply press onto the fabric in a random configuration, bleeding the edges together in some areas.</p>
<p>4. Once you have completed your design, allow the fabric to dry for several hours.</p>
<p>5. Then hem the edges according to the folded corner instructions found <a href="../wp-content/uploads/2011/07/how-to-folded-corners.pdf">HERE</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/stamped-tea-towels-how-to.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14976" title="stamped-tea-towels-how-to" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/stamped-tea-towels-how-to.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="295" /></a></p>
<p>Be sure to visit my blog, <a href="http://thelongthread.com/" target="_blank">The Long Thread</a> for more tutorials. And <strong><em>1, 2, 3 Sew</em></strong> is now available at your local bookstore, online or at the <a href="http://www.chroniclebooks.com/index/main,book-info/store,books/products_id,9189/title,1-2-3-Sew/" target="_blank">Chronicle Books</a>. Thanks!</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a sneak peak at some of the other projects from the book:</p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/fruit-tea-towels.jpg"><img title="fruit-tea-towels" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/fruit-tea-towels.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="881" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/9780811876490.IN02.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14977" title="9780811876490.IN02" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/9780811876490.IN02.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="707" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/9780811876490.IN01.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14978" title="9780811876490.IN01" src="http://indiefixx.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/9780811876490.IN01.jpg" alt="" width="590" height="573" /></a></p>
<p>Plus the blog tour continues:</p>
<p>Monday, July 11 – <a title="http://craftzine.com/" href="http://craftzine.com/">CRAFT</a><br />
Tuesday, July 12 – <a title="http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/" href="http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/">Sew, Mama, Sew</a> &amp; <a title="http://www.ohmyhandmade.com/" href="http://www.ohmyhandmade.com/">Oh My! Handmade Goodness</a><br />
Wednesday, July 13 – <a title="http://www.handmadecharlotte.com/" href="http://www.handmadecharlotte.com/">Handmade Charlotte</a><br />
Thursday, July 14 – <a title="http://www.everythingetsy.com/" href="http://www.everythingetsy.com/">Everything Etsy</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.notmartha.org/">Not Martha</a><br />
Friday, July 15 – <a title="http://modernkiddo.com/" href="http://modernkiddo.com/">Modern Kiddo</a></p>
<p>Monday, July 18 – <a title="http://www.craftypod.com/" href="http://www.craftypod.com/">Crafty Pod</a><br />
Tuesday, July 19 – <a title="http://indiefixx.com/" href="../">Indie Fixx</a> &amp; <a title="http://www.patternsbyfiggys.com/blog/" href="http://www.patternsbyfiggys.com/blog/">Patterns by Figgy’s</a><br />
Wednesday, July 20 – <a title="http://papernstitchblog.com/" href="http://papernstitchblog.com/">Papernstitch</a><br />
Thursday, July 21 – <a title="http://www.houseonhillroad.com/" href="http://www.houseonhillroad.com/">House on Hill Road</a> &amp; <a title="http://coquette.blogs.com/coquette/" href="http://coquette.blogs.com/coquette/">Coquette</a><br />
Friday, July 15 – <a title="http://www.boltneighborhood.com/" href="http://www.boltneighborhood.com/">Bolt Neighborhood</a> &amp; <a href="http://www.trueup.net/">True Up</a></p>
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