list of make & do

Back in January, I had a post lined up entitled "a wish list of things to make & do". It was an outline of my plans for the new year, in the spirit of resolutions but inspired by a friendlier looking approach.

Then in the first week of the new year I found out that I'm pregnant. Once I got my head around what that actually means, I realised that my Year of the Horse will look very different from what I had imagined. Suddenly a massive question mark appeared next to my enthusiastic list of things to make & do.

I spent my first trimester - apart from sleeping loads - pondering and investigating. I wanted to understand what a little baby really needs, what changes we really need to make in the home, what's the deal with cloth nappies, maternity wear, and the rest...

I also have been wondering about how Idle Needle, the blog will look and read like from now on.

I'm sure that the blog will follow my trajectory into mamahood and that there will be plenty of mention of the word baby from now on. But I can also tell you that I'm not into posting week-to-week belly shots or record the whole personal process in detail. Nothing wrong with people who do so - just saying that from me you are not likely to see too much of that.

What looks likely is this:

• Recipes - Healthy but delicious eating is more important for me than ever - I'm on a mission to collect and try out great recipes for all sort of nutritious delights that won't take half a day to make. Expect more cooking and baking therefore!
• Crafting & Vintage finds - A lot of items have been marked as 'make itself' or 'get second-hand' from the list of baby's needs which means I'll be sewing, crafting and going thrifting just like up til now. Plus I'm still interested in my usual tastes and obsessions, so not every flea find or project should be rattles and bibs :)
• Pictures - Spring and summer coincides with my being pregnant, which means potential nice posts about little trips in and out of town, forest walks, berry picking, picnic by the river...
• Gardening - Balcony gardening efforts will feature again too. Bring on the planting season!
• Swap/Giveaway - Our apartment needs some reorganising and streamlining, which will include a destash of crafty stuff and hoardings - I'm thinking a possible swap and/or giveaway!
• A healthy dose of journaling my way through life's mundane adventures, just like up til now.

So in essence Idle Needle is going to be just how it's been so far, hopefully even better, with all the baby-related topics added to the regular run-up. I wouldn't like to be head-in-the-clouds idealistic so I also forecast a blog break near, during and/or after the due-date.

I hope you guys are happy to follow along to see how this Idle Needle copes with her new chapter in life and what goodnesses will the nearby future bring in family life, in stitching projects, in thrifty finds and craftiness!

For the interested, see my detailed list of  'things to make & do'  in the top bar of the blog - the idea is that as I complete an entry I will make it into a link to the relevant post about that project. Hope this blog will see a lot of them ticked off!