Gifted: another hippo

I loved my first hippo so much that I knew I wanted to make more. As this one was coming together, my friend Sadie's birthday was coming up, so it ended up going to her.

As usually happens, this hippo turned out a little better than the last. For one, the butt is not nearly so crooked! There was something not as great about this one, though. The last one was made using a heavier weight pants fabric, whereas this is regular quilting cotton. I used Poly-Fil for both, but on this one fibers started poking through the weave. I don't think I overstuffed, but maybe the fabric is pulled too tight? Or maybe the weave is too loose? Or maybe I got a pokier batch of Poly-Fil than usual? (That is actually my leading hypothesis, if you can believe it.) Anyone else have issues like this?

Sadie said she really likes it, though it was promptly "adopted" by their 2+ year old son, who says, "This is Mommy's. I can just play with it."

And thus ends September! I don't think I'm ready for October yet, but I don't think I have a choice...