A couple of weeks ago the temperature hit the 50s for a couple days, a novelty here in Boston this winter. I used the break in the weather to shovel out a parking space on the street so my friends could have somewhere to park when they visit. It was a great afternoon. I got to talk to several neighbors out walking their dogs and one even had her newborn with her.

I decided to make some dog friendly baby presents. Seems like dog-themed baby items are always for boys. But wait! Girls love dogs too! I looked around the internet for patterns and found a great site, Fishsticks Designs. Bonnie, the designer, has a free bib tutorial on her blog and lots of other fun and useful patterns. (All the patterns in her Etsy shop, FishsticksDesigns, are half price through March 29, 2015. There patterns for a variety of bags, super comfy clothes for kids and teens, especially clothes for boys, and even few patterns for adults).

Bonnie recommends using flannel as the middle layer of the bib. But I have so many small odd bits of leftover quilt batting that I decided to use that instead. I put the flannel on the back of the bib so it will feel cozy next to the baby's skin! I also used velcro in place of the metal snaps because that's what I had on hand.

To keep the batting from shifting, I quilted a heart on the front of the bib, with a line of echo stitching around it. Makes a sweet detail. Where possible, I put the heart around the dog that most resembles the family's dog!

The bibs come together really quickly. Taping together the pieces of the PDF pattern is the most challenging part of this project. But because all the pages have registration marks and are sequentially numbered, assembling the pattern pieces really is straightforward and not difficult.

Lunch anyone?