Please meet Su-Lin.She is a precocious little thing.
While the other panda cubs romp and frolic in the dirt, you will find her sitting off to the side in the thickest, cleanest patch of grass. Su-Lin always takes great care not to soil her pretty dress.
Her friends often ask, "Su-Lin, why don't you come and play with us?"
"I will," Su-Lin answers. "When you play something less grubby."
Su-lin is my very first amigurumi panda bear so I'm extra excited to share her with you. I christened her after the very first panda to come to the United States in the 1930's.
As the inaugural panda, I really wanted to dress her up to the nines. Su-Lin is wearing a smock dress cut from a Japanese cherry blossom print cotton dobby. Her dress has many crocheted details such as a puff stitch trim along the dresses edge, and a band collar with a dainty flower at the neck. Su-Lin also has a crocheted drawstring purse with beaded ties. Finally, a crochet puff petal flower with a glass bead center is tucked by her right ear.
If you would like to adopt little Su-Lin she will be listed in my shop shortly.
Thank you again for visiting!
Lately, I've been busy whipping up amigurumi that sums up my philosophy on life -- it's all too short, but wonderfully sweet . . . so savor every moment. I'm probably still filled with that fresh and novel feeling you get as you ring in the New Year, but I'm hoping it's something more. I hope this feeling sticks. It's easy to get so bogged down in the minutiae of life that you completely miss it. Not me, though. Not this year (or all the years thereafter hopefully). I resolve that in 2010, I will savor life's sweetness so thoroughly that I'll be choking on it! :) 
These Charming Chocolate Dipped Strawberries were inspired by a long ago trip to Godiva's, where they had chocolate covered everything. Their jumbo chocolate dipped strawberries looked so heavenly that the sight was forever etched in my brain. Unfortunately, my amigurumi version doesn't taste as good, but I hope to make up for that in charm and cuteness.
Oh, and they're functional, too! I wanted these strawberries to do more than just sit on your desk and smile at you, so I attached a metal snap clip to the back and now you can dangle your strawberry on your bag or use it as a keychain, and take some cuteness with you wherever you go. :)
Each strawberry comes packaged in these clear plastic bento packages I discovered in my local grocery store. Now they're ready for gift giving!
Other sweet additions include Very Berry-licious Cupcakes and Cheery Cherry Cupcakes. I wanted to make cupcakes with more scrumptious and elaborate tops.
So I randomly decorated them with dallops of vanilla frosting, colorful sprinkles, and big fruit pieces. I love how they look from above . . . it's really like looking into a dessert case at the bakery.
Some Itty Bitty Ami Bears sitting in their origami gift bags . . .
And a trio of Bashful Blooming Cacti. Each cactus will now come with an instructional "How to Care for . . . " hang tag. It's an idea that I've been mulling over for ages and I've finally gotten around to doing it.
The tags read --
I know, I know . . . they're just potholders, but they're cherry potholders so that's sort of cute, right? But then I discovered some cherry print fabric so I plan to make a whole cherry themed kitchen set. This project is still in the beginning stages so I have hopes that it will blossom into something more impressive than it seems. We'll see, I guess. Stay tuned . . .
This "flavor" I call Berry Swirl. I used a pink and white variegated yarn and it makes a nice motley, swirly pattern throughout.
This "flavor" is Blueberry, obviously. :) The yarn is a deep 
For this month's Reader Appreciation Giveaway I wanted to give something really special (to make up for being so willy-
Yep, it's my trusty ol' Happy Swirly Cupcakes. If you've been keeping abreast of my blog posts you'll notice that I've been making mini versions of my usual amigurumi. I just love jamming a whole lotta cute into a small package. It's like concentrated cuteness! :) I suppose it was only a matter of time until my big cupcakes got the shrinking treatment, too.
Please meet the Mini Cupcake Cuties! Each mini cupcake stands 3 inches tall from base to frosted tip. I really love the concept of cute meets function in my Happy Swirly Cupcakes and I wanted to keep true to that with these little fellows. Therefore, I made little blank sign boards on which short messages can be written. I think these mini cupcakes make the perfect surprise "for-no-reason-at-all-I-just-wanted-to-tell-you-I'm-thinking-about-you" present. :)
Here's a shot of one of my big cupcakes next to it's baby sibling.
And another comparison shot of the cupcake tops. Although I love the look of the swirly frosted, berry tops on the bigger cupcakes, I've been dying to make some frosted sprinkle cupcakes for the longest time, and so I've done on the smaller counterparts.
Here are a pair of Bashful Blooming Cacti.
And a plush Apple Cheek Ami Bear and Bunny duo.
Finally, I made this sweet Itty Bitty Ami Bear twosome.
I thought I'd throw in a random shot of the big ami bear next to the mini one. I just wanted to take a photo for comparison, but it gave me the idea of doing a set -- like a little bear holding her little toy bear. Maybe that will be my next project! :)
Now before I leave . . . this month's Reader Appreciation Giveway are these two adorable Japanese fabric iron-ons. Isn't that blue elephant sweet? Apply them to your tote bag or backpack for instant cuteness! As always I will pick someone at random from the comment pool of this post.
I made them in a bunch of different colors as you can see. They'll be listed in my shop shortly, if anyone is interested.
Do you remember these? I haven't made my Sundae Berets in quite awhile. I used to make them with nuts scattered all over the hot fudge sauce, but this time I decided to do them up with colored sprinkles. I saw something on Food Network about how sprinkles were one of the most popular toppings for ice cream, and I was instantly inspired.
Here's one of my B-gals wearing one. I'll be putting a bunch of these in my shop, too.
Since the vog (a.k.a The Vile Cloud of Crafting Doom) lifted, I've finally got myself into a nice crafting schedule again. This week it's been nothing but Itty Bitty Amigurumis. Between the crocheting and the origami, I find it a nice all around soothing craft.
As you can see, I've added some bears to my Itty Bitty repertoire. I experimented a bit with the muzzle -- I did an embroidered nose much like my bigger bears, but then I also tried out a black bead nose. I'm not sure which one I like better. What do you all think? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Here's a better look of them all decked out in their crochet dresses.
Please meet Pecan! How adorable is he sitting on a stump with his little elephant push toy?
Well, here is Loovee hitting the beach to test the final product. I think she's quite pleased with it. The design is simple and un-fussy. I added the curvy detail at the hem to convey surf and waves, and also to add some interest to such a basic design. I decided to variegate the waves in three different shades of pink, from darkest to lightest. I really like how it came out. It reminds me of a plumeria flower petal. Finally, I thought a beaded tie on the bodice would be a nice touch.
Loovee seems to enjoy sunning herself on the rocks.
Finally, a parting shot of Loovee as the sun sets.
