Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

I’m not one to believe in predestination but sometimes things fall into place so perfectly you just have to raise an eyebrow. See, I was organizing my fabric stash recently and kept going back to this piece of Harmony Art Organic ever-so-soft flannel cotton, itching to make something with it, but stumped as to what. I kept thinking baby-something. But no one was expecting (or so I didn’t think at the time—turns out one of my cousins is expecting her second) and all the little boys aren’t celebrating birthdays anytime soon and are getting too big for little flannel gifts.
Then I found out my Mom needs a present for an upcoming baby shower she is going to. For a baby boy. Perfect! Now I had an excuse to use that fabric. But still, what to make? I saw The Purl Bee had a post on swaddling blankets but the piece I had wasn’t big enough and I didn’t feel like patchworking it. Then when I was ordering a little something on Amazon, I noticed the cover of Lotta Jansdotter’s Simple Sewing for Baby and it clicked. Bibs! So I made up two from the pattern via Chickpea Sewing Studio found by a simple google search. Since I still had some fabric left, I figured some matching burp cloths were in order. I did a little research on sizes and was able to whip up two from scratch.

They are all backed with a matching brown cotton. I’m the first to admit I don’t know much about baby stuff but the weight seemed too thin for things used for messes so I added a layer of cotton batting.
All of this (and the quilt I’m working on) has spurned an interest in this baby stuff—not having them, just making for them. I am resisting the urge to buy the aforementioned book and this one too.