Rhinocerous

This past week I tried something new. I have been following Abby Glassenberg's Elements of Soft Toy Design series (she's working on a book, too, but it's not finished yet). Her blog (http://whileshenaps.typepad.com) is full of really cool stuff - she's amazingly talented. Anyway, one of the posts I just read was on underbody gussets - the "belly" of a 3D stuffie. I have only made 2D (i.e. a front and a back) stuffies in the past, so I thought I'd try it out.
This is what I came up with.

Yes, folks, it's a rhino. "Why a rhino," you ask? I chose a rhino because my Spunky son loves the show "Wild Kratts" (on PBS), and one of his favorite episodes is about rhinos. Plus, teddy bears are so over-done. I want to be different - and a rhino is definitely different!

OK, so here's my rhino. It's not AMAZING, but it is pretty good for being my very first attempt. I didn't know the hind legs would puff out so much, so he rocks a bit. I do like his face, though. I went with really, really bright blue for the eyes because, well, he's all gray - and gray is quite drab. I was thinking about putting a bowtie or something around his neck to give him some more color, but since I can't tie a decent bow I decided to leave him as-is.
As usual, though, my children don't care - they LOVE him!