The baby in the blue body on the bench is Dumplin in his new body which was Gracie's old too tight one. Being slimmer, Dumplin fits perfectly. Gracie gets a never tried-on body with new bigger leg caps.That blue body on the floor, with stuffing coming out the neck hole, comes into the story later so don't forget that you have already seen the headless wonder.
Here is Gracie in a body that fits her. You probably cannot see any difference but I feel a lot better with her in this body with the proper sized caps.

Then I moved on to checking (I am learning) Sweet and Sassy's limbs to make sure they would fit into the caps I had made for her before assembling her body. To my great surprised I find this!

She had two left arms! I scrounged among all my doll kits hoping I had second kit I could borrow an arm from but she was my only one. No one else had an arm as long as hers. However, the search turned up an extra head that would fit on to Jason, the headless wonder on the floor, you already saw in photo one today.

Here is Jason with his new head and perfectly installed eyes. I was amazed how good having three babies in a crew works out for me. Even though Sweet and Sassy was put on the shelf to await a right arm, finding the head for Jason still allowed me to get three babies done today.
Then I was further blessed. In the mail was another Sweet & Sassy baby, with the right number of arms, but also with the address of the sender which I had thrown away last week. It is Tina in China with whom I have written before so I know her English is perfect and I am hoping she can send me one right arm. I did take a better photo to show her my (Sassy's) problem.

I was also blessed in that T., who had introduced the babies to the UCLA unit, paid for their postage since UCLA's accountants could not figure out why they had to pay to the postage but not for the 10 dolls sent to them. I had given up getting paid anything on those babies but here comes T. with a check so I can go shopping for new babies. Thanks T. - you know who you are!

In planning my work for yesterday I forgot that it was also Father's Day. Thus it was almost 3:00 before I got a couple of bodies sewn together. Out of habit I started to assemble the biggest of the three babies and to my discomfort I found Gracie's thighs so big I had to huff and puff and use pliers to get the caps on them. I did get them on and here she is with thanks to the auto-correct feature that makes up for late afternoon light on her.

I sat and looked at her a long time debating if I should let her use these too-tight leg caps. There was also a funny wrinkle in her upper chest that I wondered if I should accept or not. Not able to make up my tired 5:00 mind I enjoyed the scene around her so snapped this also.

It was only after my shower and while watching the Golden State Warriors get beat by the Cleveland basketball team did I realize I should first check the other baby's thigh sizes to see if any are smaller than Gracie's. If so that baby could have her body and I will make new wider leg caps for her to put on a body already sewn. So often body-getting day turns my studio into a used car lot with bodies getting passed from baby to baby until the right fit is found. This is not rocket science.

Meet this week's crew. On the left is Dumplin, a very old (2009) Bountiful Baby kit that I have never used because I thought his mouth looked too grumpy in the proto-type photo. However recently he was put on sale with a new photo where I could see his lips better and decided he had an acceptable neutral expression. In the middle is Sweet and Sassy which I was able to get at a low price for a change. Otherwise his kit sells for $60 or more but some Chinese new-comer to e-bay put him in an auction with a not-very-good photograph so no one wanted him. I love his immediacy and his big smile. On the right is Gracie. Shortly after BB introduced her this year they ran out of kits. Something happened behind the scenes. When the new shipment came in they announced her return with a 1/2 off sale and there I was. In this photo, that is Kameko who was trying on the new caps I was making with the Pipsqueak yarn. I think she thinks she is above this group as she already has her body!

They do have their limbs, they are just on the tray for the nail-jobs. I  was so organized  this day that I already put the name bands on the left ankle. To the left here is Gretchen Butler's Down-Home Tablet that I am currently using to keep my list of things for which I am thankful. One of them is for the charming illustrations Gretchen has on every page. I love her drawing and the paper is so smooth - all make a joy to write down my blessings.
In looking for something for lunch I found an opened tube of Pringles which had gone too stale for even me, so I tossed them out my studio door and was repaid with an afternoon of visitations from the resident Scrub Jay families.

I am now out of the Pipsqueak yarn so I used the leftovers to make a cap with a bobble for my Ching Baby model. I so enjoyed looking across the room and seeing him sitting patiently on the photo-table,

I finally used the zoom feature on the new camera to get this shot from across the room. He looks like he is trying to lick the tutu fabric of the bow from this angle. Even his eyes are nearly crossed in concentration. I love it when I find the babies having a live if their own.

One left-over idea from yesterday. When I finally got to the cold and rained-on studio in the afternoon I found the wet support attempt had dried so I cut it down and tried it. Not bad I am thinking. If I put a bit more energy in making it, I could find this idea useful.

As I looked at the photos when they downloaded I wondered what this one was doing in the line up. Now I can see I was checking to see how the silver support worked from the front. Today I am thinking of using duct tape on the corners. . .

I did get the next cocoon made and I liked the idea of leaving the front open down to the bellybutton so it is easier to get the baby down into it. I like the tiny bit of edging that appears in the middle of the cocoon. Otherwise that area was too long and boring.

With the left-overs I made a new matching cap for this cocoon outfit and am pleased with how it it looks. Enough! The sun is shining today, and I get to assemble a new crew for the week so I am eager to be off to the studio! Thanks for looking in on us.

My great plan to do my blog in the morning took a hit behind the knees today when we lost power at 9:30 so the computer became a dust collector and nothing more. A guy from Croatia had asked me to write the introduction to his haiku book which I had been putting off all week so I took the power outage as a sign I should work on his book, so I did.
Now it is afternoon, the power is back on, and even the rain has stopped so I can bend my mind back to yesterday in the studio. The best part of the day went to finalizing the last three unfinished babies. The weird idea I had the day before, on how to make little stands so the babies would sit upright without falling over was still with me so I cut up the yardage into  blankets so I could have a chunk to use in the photographs. I was shocked how much energy it took from me to stand at the kitchen counter to measure and cut out the blankets. By the time I recovered enough to clear the photo table and arrange to make photos today's storm was already hanging around the open studio door keeping the light away.

Morgan and Mollie are my models. It is hard to realize that these two are made from the same kit but seem like such opposite individuals.  Here below is a side view. Now I can see how distracting the sitz-device is when it is hidden by a blanket. I think that if I cut the cardboard off at shoulder level it would be adequate.
Even a shot from the side is not as much of a disturbance as the blanket.

Then I got a shot of the back and saw how terrible this was.

So I grabbed up a can of spray paint to try to cover the printing. While I was crocheting, and waiting on the paint to dry I smelled rain. Too late.  That idea folded up into wet cardboard and silver paint which I refuse to show you.

So that is how Morgan and Mollie spent the night chatting away. I hope they had a good time even though they were in their birthday suits. Seeing this I think Mollie is going to need one of the new wigs I have been buying on eBay to cover up that slope in her head shape.

Good news! C. called from PA saying both boxes of babies arrived and she was delighted with her new family. I am always so relieved to know the kids are no longer playing in the post office.

I got the pink cocoon made yesterday. Finally I let myself  plan to use the whole ball of yarn so I was able to see how much yarn it takes for the biggest version. I  used all of the ball and still have some left over. Now if I make a white cocoon I have enough pink for the 'fringe' at the top. I like making these since there is no way to count stitches with such fuzzy stuff. I just keep an eye on how big the cocoon is making itself to see if I agree. Once I had to take out a couple of rows because the width was spreading out too much.
In the morning, I had finished up two more babies' strings and then I made the mistake of taking one of the Chinese kits apart with the intent of redoing the wonky eyes.

In the end I gave up trying to rescue the baby, so I was not proud of myself. I may just try inserting the eyes into a new head to see if I  can do a better job of it.
I did go through the boxes of small babies and found these three needed help getting themselves finished.

Here we have Kameko (to the left) and the siblings Morgan and Mollie- who are having a spat and refusing to look at each other. Kids! Also you can see the results of a lunchtime brainstorm. I got the idea of cutting out the corners of a box, setting the doll into the corner and using the former sides of the box to support the doll upright. I am still thinking of this idea, seeing if it really works as slick as it does in my imagination, and how to hide the cardboard aspect of it.
These three babies are the last of the lot that need finishing so I look forward to working on them this morning. I think I forgot to say yesterday that one of things that pays me back for all the work is my time with the baby before I start to work. I pick up the baby, rock and hold her close while I explain to her what I am going to do and ask her cooperation. I also ask if anything feels wrong to her and request that she show me what needs fixing. I know this all sounds silly, but even when I have the baby back together, I will cuddle her, thank her, and bless her for the lovely time we have had together, This way I can hold the baby in cuddle and think I am still working with no guilt. I guess I have the idea that if I can give a doll all the love possible, it can, when in the arms of a new person, radiate some of my love into their life. If the doll is used to getting love from me, she will, in the new situation teach that person to love her (the doll) and in that way learn how love feels and call forth those feelings in order to pass them on to those around her. Welcome to my world.

Grace was graceful enough to let me take photos to show you what I am talking about when I say I am finishing up babies. When I take their portraits you cannot see that the strings holding them together are left as I first tied them. What happens is I can pull the strings through the casings tight enough with the first couple attempts. As I work up the body, my hands are giving out by the time I get to the arms and especially the neck. If I know where the baby is going I can decide if she is stuffed properly, if she is tied together securely enough and then to make a final decision on the sleeper to send with her. To finish her I need to make these decisions and then test the neck knot.

The first test is to see if the head is one securely enough. I do this by putting on the two strings so  see how much baby neck is exposed. Here, as you can see, this is too much. With pointed scissors I work loose the knot and prepare to retie it. Part of that process is to check to see I want to make any changes in the placement of the eyes or the stuffing in the head.

I pull on the strings to see if it is tight enough or if I must open it and redo the knot. If the first knot shows signs of relaxing or slipping, I will put a dab of UHU solid glue on the strings so when I pull the knot up the sticky stuff on the strings stop them from slipping. Then I tie the knot again. Those long strings are there for a reason. I then wrap them around the neck making sure they are slipped in tightly against the neck groove. First I wrap one string, knot it off and then going in the opposite direction, repeat the process with the other string. Here you can see the string lying in the groove. Then I clip off the extra and work my way around the neck with clumps of glue on a toothpick and force the glue between the vinyl and the fabric. The string tails are then smoothed into this glue mass so there are no fuzzy ends sticking up. Then with a damp tissue I wipe up any extra glue and make sure the dolly is clean again,

With the neck secure I move down to the strings on the arms. Here you can see how I use the pointed scissors to open the knot. The photo is slightly out of focus because I clicking on the close up lens which I thought would allow me to do that. Obviously there is something new to learn about this camera.  What is in better focus is the way I glue down the string ends - here on the neck.

I test every knot and redo the ones that do not pass inspection. Usually I can get the first leg knots done tightly enough but then my hands give out or my energy wains and I can no longer tie the knots as tightly as I think they should be. Yesterday I had a great day and was able to get these four babies finalized and back to the table to dry the new glue. Thank goodness 98% of it is in the body part-grooves so I do not have to worry about them sticking to the quilt.