Jude's blanket

I'll begin by introducing the pattern: I bought it at a fabric store in California back in the early eighties. I was in the Navy, had recently moved out of the barracks to share a house with a bunch of other squids, and was seriously missing my sewing machine. I had it; I just rarely used it. When one of the gals I worked with was expecting I thought it was a great excuse to sew something besides uniform patches. I found a fabric store somewhere around Oakland. I made up the blanket pretty much as pictured, maybe different colors, and it was a hit at the bridal shower. I got a few requests for some and then the blanket kind of morphed into my 'signature' baby blanket. I made them off and on as I moved around and friends had babies. Then I was making them for my own babies (except Jacie) and lastly my nieces and nephews. After so many I was tired of the bear so I put it away (I thought) for good. Now Jude is going to be arriving soon. Jude will be the first child of the first child of some good friends of ours. Our two families have only known each other for about 6-7 years but we've grown close. So, a first grandbaby, I thought, needs a special blanket. The sleepy bear. I dug out the pattern but I just couldn't do the same ol' thing. I wanted to play with patchwork so I made some pinwheel blocks to be the bear's ''quilt". The colors are based on the baby's bedding in his nursery. Here's how he's coming along:

I used to applique his head and such with a satin stitch but I'm going to change things a little this time; first by lightly padding him and then using a machine blanket stitch. Update later!