I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving or at least there was one incident that made you happy to be alive and participating in this day. I had  planned to not work on dollies today but to revert to my childhood and spend the day preparing the cards for Christmas. The last thing to find and add to my job was the calligraphy pens. To my surprise, since I no longer shop in stationary shops, I was completely out of ink for the pens. I found one old cartridge in the back of a drawer but after cleaning the pen and changing its point, I found it did not fit. So off to Amazon and out of a job. I was actually relieved I could now work on dollies.
Last night, while reading postings on a doll forum, there were a string of letters about people getting out the first dolls they had made and being very shocked about how bad they were. Then today I experienced the same thing. I was checking Peanut who I have listed for sale on Reborns and was shocked to find she had such an old body.

I would never sell a baby like that! In the afternoon I cut out a new body for her and sewed it in the sunshine of a wintry day. I was greatly relieved to see her looking like this.

Then I put on her sleeper and found her so cute I could not resist just sitting and rocking her. When I got out of the chair I saw that was the best place for her to spend the night. I really need for Mary to bring the crib she has promised me.

Seeing her sitting there I just felt a flood of love for that happy face. So there was my thanks giving. The turkey is in the oven with the sweet potato and cranberry sauce is waiting in the cupboard.
In the studio this crew is waiting for their blankets to get into their box for the journey starting on Sunday.

The gang destined for Sunrise House in Petaluma. Friday they get wrapped in their blankets with ribbons. There are two more to finish tomorrow. One, I was shocked to find I had used some limbs painted with the heat-set kind of paint. I was shocked how hard they were. As hard as porcelain and not nearly so nice.

The limbs don't look as bad on this photo as they do in real life. They are short and fat so the Ching child (who donated his head) looks like a dwarf. Doric came by today and picked up my "flood the street with art" box or I would be adding this child to that. At supper I got the idea of putting him out on our road to see if anyone walking by would find him. I really hate to give him to the nursing home. I feel his limbs are so bad. I laugh now when people crow on their descriptions of dolls about using the heat-set paints.

These babies are all happy because they are lying in a pile to be sent to the Sunrise Nursing Home in Petaluma. I was able to connect with their activities director, who I find out, also writes haiku. Thus our discussion kept getting pulled away from babies. I am happy to have my work for tomorrow already laid out for me. Today got away from me with more upsets on the forum. Finally at noon I got to the studio but was so discombobulated that I was not up to starting any babies and could only crochet diapers. The weather was as unsettled as I was. Around noon it actually started to hail. The fibro took this as a hint to hurt so I slept badly last night and hurt all day. Tomorrow has got to be better!

First of all today I finished packing up the babies for Petaluma. The monkeys were so cute in their decorated onsies and banana bottles I wanted a photo of them before they were gone. Yesterday while cleaning out clothes looking for duds for Annie, I found many more bottles. I thought I had used up all the bottle caps but now I have a bunch more. This assures new monkeys' bottle nourishment. I realize that the bottle and baby may not stay together in the new nursing home but I hope they get a good laugh to start out with.

Looking at the second lower shelf of the metal rack, I got the idea of putting the smaller babies here instead of stacking them in with the larger ones. After I laid them out I saw that Ethan and Jenny Wren were over looking them. I was so touched at the looks of concern on their faces.
Yesterday I had put Thistle the Pig up on Reborns.com and then afterwards thought the portrait photo did not show him good enough. So today I took 10 more shots and found this view was the best.

When I went to Reborns.com to change out this one, I saw the photo I put up yesterday was the better one. It showed his foot, too.  I wonder if they build crutches for self-esteem?

Annie's first outfit of the day! My mother would have called this "jakey" as she did lots of my high school creations. You can see in Annie's eyes that she is not comfortable in this borrowed outfit. I do not have many 3 month clothes but I did find another outfit that came on Angelic that was really too big for her. Evidently it is more fun to shop for clothes for 3 - 6 and 12 month sizes than newborns.

There, that was better. I also added a wig so she had some wisps of  hair under the cap. The kid does take good photographs.

Doesn't she looks as if she is ready to speak as soon as she gets the words together in her mind?  I wish her creator had not made her eyes so round.

Asher and Candy were also in the photo-shoot.

Asher is such a sober guy. I would not have picked him to buy but BB offered a deal where one got for free one of their Realborn kits with a purchase. I wanted to see if these kits were any better than the others BB offers. I did not find any difference except the price was $79. in stead of under $20.

I am amazed how important it is for me to have at least one smiley baby on the week's crew. Candy, my old favorite held my spirits in her soft little hand and together we got through the photos.
The activities director from a nursing home in Petaluma called and we had a great time chatting about dolls. The ones they are using are the hard kind of therapy dolls. She ended up ordering 5 babies, the three monkeys and the puppy. I think she will like the cuddle feature in my babies.  I hope to hear from the other home today.

The morning started out looking like this.  Behind the bodies is the box of calendars. I am waiting on a shipment of envelopes from Amazon to start mailing them out. In the meantime I have three great bods to match up to vinyl personalities.

I rarely take photos of the stuffing process because it seems to use up every last bit of my energy. However today, as I was inserting Freckles into Annie's head I could not resist capturing  the look on his face. I do put a teenie beanie baby into each head so the kid has something to think about and someone to talk to during those conversations which  I hold all day in my head.

Asher was the first one into a body. There are moments I feel he is going to smile. He will have to wait for his paint until tomorrow morning when I am fresh and only 50 years old. Still there is something very lovable about this guy. Happy to find whatever it is in him and me.

Little Asher next to Candy looks absolutely tiny and a bit scared of her singing. I think he does not know what to say to her and he knows it cannot be a compliment on her voice, but that is all she wants. He is one very smart kid.

I tried to put Annie on the bench but the other two crawled up on her so you cannot really see her at all. I have fallen in love with Annie and no one is surprised. I already feel I will not be able to give her up. She has the size I love, a very pleasant face, and a heart as big her big blue body. When I got ready to quit at 5 o'clock I noticed my chair was empty. Here was the room the three kids needed for the night.

One can clearly see the differences in the sizes of this week's crew. Tomorrow we  will start with faces and then get out the sleepers and I am interested in seeing who picks which one. For weeks I have moaned that I did not have enough sleepers but now there are several stacks. Joy, joy, joy!

Just a quick note to introduce you to next week's crew. A couple are new to both you and me. On the left is Asher awake, one of the new Realborn babies made this year by Bountiful Baby. He has the warmest expression of any of the four awake and sleeping babies. In the middle is Annie, an older doll kit from BB with a date of 2010 on her neck. I like her gentle smile and have great hopes for making her a therapy baby. She will be one of the bigger babies - always my favorites. You can see a bit how big she is compared to Candy on her left. Again the eyes went in very easily, which was a big relief. Now I am off to sew bodies. I hope the spirit will be with me.