Where did the week go?

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday already. I've been knitting feverishly all week (well, except for today). I finished a secret project for S&C. Ok, I tested another new pattern, and you're all going to love it! It's another one by the fantastic Susan B. Anderson. I also managed to squeeze in a bit more Itty Bitty knitting and finished the first of 3 projects. It's the Cat & Mouse Reversible. I'm so happy with how this turned out and think I'll be making a few reversibles of my own. Did anyone else miss the week passing? I was not consulted in the swiftness of it going by.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

I tried a new recipe recently and I think it will find its way into the regular rotation. I left the caramel off the top because a) I forgot to pick some up and b) they seemed plenty decadent without it. I hope you're enjoying fall too!

Making Progress

The quilt is coming together and I'm really excited about the way it's looking. I snuck in another hour of work on it yesterday.


You can see here how I'm creating squares from the strips. I actually managed to get all my squares cut yesterday. I've got some horizontal stitching left to do yet and then it's on to the tedious part, sewing the strips together. I say tedious, because I need to match up seams, which I haven't had to do yet. I'll have more pictures soon!
I've been spending most of my time working on a secret knitting project. I'll be sure to take pictures, so you can see it all when the pattern is released.

Let the stitching begin!

My current knitting deadlines are both at super tight gauges, which necessitates frequent breaks. On Saturday I decide to start a new project on one of these breaks. I headed to my mom's to cut my quilt fabric into strips. The quilt will be made up of 3" squares, so I cut 3.5" strips. The strips will be sewn together and then cut again to 3.5". That will save me a heap of work in the end. I'm glad I've got my mom to guide me along a bit. It's like having private lessons I imagine.
I'm approaching the finish line on the Cat and Mouse reversible toy. You can see Mr. Mouse peeking out of my knitting bag here. I'm SO happy with how he turned out. I'm changing my tune on the amount of work these toys require. The patterns are VERY well written and the results are better than I imagined. I can't wait to make some of these for the wee one.

Itty Bitty Stitches

I stumbled upon an opportunity to knit some samples for the Itty Bitty Toys publisher and I jumped in to the project yesterday. The patterns I'll be working on are both reversibles and they're too cute! If you haven't seen this book I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy. This may be Susan's best book yet.
It took me most of the morning to get gauge. These are itty bitty stitches, but it looks gorgeous so far. I went down from the recommended size 4 to a size 1 needle (maybe I'll knit socks after this).
I'll be knitting 2 samples of the Reversible Cat & Mouse and one sample of the Reversible Lion & Elephant.



I have plans of my own to knit the Sisters for the wee one. I think BSA Cotton or Spud & Chloë Sweater would be a good option for these toys if you don't have access to O-Wool. I had a hard time tracking down all the colors I needed and ended up ordering from 2 stores.
I'd better get back to my tiny stitching. Hopefully I'll have some progress to share soon.

Sweet Success

My husband ended up getting a big freelance project, so my trifling light fixture wasn't really on the radar. I read through the directions and decided I'd give it a go this morning. It actually works! Now I best get in the shower...

Friday's Finds

Friday was a full day flitting to and fro. My mom and I started out at the craft store, then off to the LYS, a quick peek at some occasional shops and finally to the quilt shop. I got some sweet 30's prints to use in a quilt for the little one. My mom is letting me raid her stash to fill in the rest. I'm planning to do a simple quilt made up of 3" squares, big enough to fit a toddler bed. I'd like to try out machine quilting for the first time too, but we'll have to see if my less-than-sturdy machine is up to it.
The other treasure is a vintage needle book I stumbled upon at an antique shop. It was too cute to pass up.
Now I'm off to carefully choose some items to spend my Purl gift certificate on (my husband is the best)! Any suggestions?

Overkill

I love overkill. It provides me with home grown produce every fall. My dad has a tendency to plant far more tomatoes (and other things for that matter) than he and my mom will ever eat or use. Twenty five plants is conservative for him. I think next year I will pretend to plant tomatoes, and pretend they were victims of blight and save myself a load of work (rubs hands together mischievously). Anyway, yesterday brought me into the kitchen to blanch some tomatoes my dad gave me the other night. If you've never done this before, let me tell you, it's the easiest way to prepare veggies for the freezer (besides just throwing them in).



Simply boil some water, drop in your tomatoes and wait for the skins to split (usually a couple minutes).


Then remove them and place them in cool water.


When the tomatoes have cooled enough to handle, peel the skins off and chop if desired. Place in freezer bags or containers and store in the freezer until you're ready to make chili! Bring on the cooler weather!

Today's Project

I needed some relatively instant gratification on the home improvement front, so I picked up some new drawer pulls for the upstairs bathroom. Talk about an easy update! I'm trying to keep things simple for now since there are projects everywhere I look.

Before

After

I had an audience for the project. She doesn't seem too impressed.

Next up: one light fixture. I'm calling in reinforcements for this one (aka my husband). I picked up an inexpensive, but less-offensive fixture yesterday. Slowly but surely...
The rest of the afternoon will be eaten up with knitting. Deadlines are such a great motivator. What are you up to?

New Adventures

All sorts of new adventures have begun for me in the last year. My husband and I had our first baby in April, bought our first home in August, and our latest adventure begins with me quitting my job of 4 years, in recent weeks. This is where you enter the adventure. Welcome to Fresh Maked! I’m taking the plunge into the blog world (probably a day late and a dollar short, but I’m fine with that). I’m quickly filling my notebook with fun projects to share, so stay tuned. I’ll have some sweet home projects as I whip our own place into shape, there will be plenty of knitting, and probably some pretty little sewn garments too. I’m heading off to the quilt shop with my mom on Friday and I’ll (hopefully) have some little treasures to share then. In the meantime, I’m testing a pattern for Spud & Chloë (and can’t get enough of Sweater), I’ve a face to re-attempt on Miss Ribbit (poor thing, my embroidery won’t do her justice), and a skirt calling to be cut from a piece a fabric I’ve had in my possession much too long.