Coneja’s person first wrote to me back in August.  She was concerned that the Bunny needed to be replaced from the neck down.  Here are her diagnosis photos:

As you can see, her legs, arms and torso were made from the same very thin fabric as her skirt, and over time they just got thinner and thinner.  But her head, hands, and feet were all still sturdy, just a little deflated.

We agreed the best treatment would be to give her a spa, then recover all her clothes in new fabric.  We’d replace the bodice and skirt, but leave the trim as a memory, as it was structural so was ok to keep wearing. 

It took a couple months, but Coneja flew to the hospital in October to begin treatment.  Here she is starting her spa with her bubble bath:

She got restuffed next and of course, got a heart of original stuffing.

I thought those flowers would be nice for her and her person completely agreed: Oh my gosh the heart is perfect ! Thank you so much!

Next up, choosing fabric for her new clothes.  We discussed a couple options.  Flannel was a bit sturdier than her current clothes, but velvet was the next step, and brighter colors, and that’s what her person and I agreed on.  I was going to recover most of the clothes, but replace the skirt.  It was just too thin to hold new fabric.  Here she is bright and sturdy:

Still herself but ready for many more years of hugs!

She flew home and arrived just this week.  Her person wrote:

She just got here! Omg she is actually perfect!!! Thank you so much Beth, you’re incredible !! Even my mom started crying when she saw her!
Thank you so so much!!

The second in the trio of cloth bodied bunnies is Rosey (who was actually the last to arrive at the hospital).  Rosey’s body wasn’t original.  It had been replaced in the past (years ago) but now she needed another makeover.  As you know, I don’t usually remove existing parts, so we (her family and I) agreed to recover her this time (after a quick spa to clean her up).

Here’s Rosey’s diagnosis photos:

She started with a spa, just like Daisy:

But then her people needed to choose a fabric.  The yellow wasn’t original, and they weren’t sure what was, so I sent a wide selection of patterned options in a similar texture for them to choose from:

They chose the blue calico at the top of the center photo, and recovering commenced.  Once her clothes were set, a question arose.  Should we recover her pawpads or leave them as a memory of her last wardrobe:

The decision was recovering and that was next.  Then she got her heart (old stuffing, new fabric):

And finally, she was closed up, plump and happy and ready to fly home:

She flew home to her family’s happy arms!

Next, the final installment of the Three Bunnies: Honey Bunny!

I know, before Butter’s I hadn’t written in a while (and I probably won’t for a while after this batch), because the hospital has been quite crowded and I’m now booking patients as far out as October, but I’ve had all these stories stored up and I really wanted to share them.  I hope you liked Butter’s story earlier in the week… my qa person (aka my so) couldn’t tell which leg was replaced, and so I thought, “that’s a story to share before I forget it!”

Anyway, another story I wanted to share was three bunnies who were all in the hospital at the same time, from different homes.  They are all the same style: puffy cloth clothing bodies with furry hands, feet, heads, and ears.  Daisy had even been here before, for a bath.  But this time around, all three were suffering the same illness their breed is prone to… clothing thinning and tears.  You see, the clothing part is thinner to start with, a thin cotton, and that means with years of hugs, it wears first.  Here are the three bunnies first photos:

Daisy was here before as I said, and so it’s fitting her tail is first. :-) She came in  back in 2016, just for a spa and touch up, but now her fabric was so thin you could see through:

Her fabric was stable, so her person opted for lining to reinforce it.  We started with a spa, and discovered her original fabric was pink with white dots!

So we decided to line her in pink, to give a hint of that color back.  She had a heart from her last spa, so that went in:

And after some back and forth on chubbiness, she was ready to fly home:

Daisy made it home safe and sound and her person wrote: “Thank you so much for the care you gave to Daisy. She looks amazing. You’ve taken at least a decade off of her. She’s so squishy and cuddle and I’m not afraid of tearing her, though I am still careful of course. Thank you, again, for everything.”

Next up, Rosey the bunny!

I know it’s been a bit since I wrote…. everything is fine here and I hope it is with all of you.  May was just been a very busy month in the hospital – so busy that I am now scheduling July patients, because it leaked into June.  But Isaac’s story has been sitting in my head, waiting to be told since he went home earlier this month, so here it is, a bit of happiness to share with all of you. :-)

Isaac’s person first wrote back in December.  She had been referred to the hospital by a previous patient:

My bunny, Isaac, has been with me for as long as I can remember.  I would love to get him fixed up to pass on to my daughter.

Lots of my patients come in when they are getting ready to go to another generation.  I usually suggest a spa, to get them spruced up, and any wound repair that is required.  Here are Isaac’s diagnostic photos:

As you can see, he was in pretty good shape.  Fluffing up his fur, supplemental stuffing, and then repairing the bald spot on his tail and recovering his pawpads would have him spruced up and ready for a new generation of hugs.

He waited a bit to come to the hospital, arriving in mid-May.  He came with special fabric to be used for his heart, and another fabric specifically for his pawpads.  We would find fur to recover his tail in the hospital’s resources.  Here’s Isaac in his bubble bath:

Looking a little less matted already! And here’s his heart being made and installed using the purple fabric his person sent:

Next up was choosing fur for his cotton tail, and I had just the right one to be a close color match and nice and fluffy (if you look closely, you can see his heart peaking out at the bottom of his spine there):

Surgery proceeded with the recovered tail, and recovered pawpads.  His person had sent a lovely navy faux suede for his paws, and soon Isaac was ready to go home!

Isaac flew home to Alabama and arrived safely at the beginning of this month.  His person wrote:

The first hug when I took him out of the box was just the greatest thing ever.  Thank you so very much!

Over the last few months, two similar bunnies came to the hospital for similar treatments.  One was fairly local, he came into the studio in person at the beginning of the year.  His name is BunBun, and he is a pink, striped, pj bunny.  Bunny, on the other hand, is a blue bunny who  flew in from Cincinnati.

Similarly, both bunnies didn’t have their original people contact me first.  Rather, people who loved the bunnies’ people contacted me, hoping to rejuvenate the bunnies as a gift.  In BunBun’s case, it was his person’s mom.  In Bunny’s case it was his person’s fiance. Here are the diagnosis photos.

First BunBun:

As you can see, his clothes were awfully thin, see through, with holes and old patches.  I offered several levels of treatment.  His person’s mom opted for a gift certificate, and then his person brought him in.  She opted to recover his pjs, but leave his cuffs and button strip as they were.  We also planned to give him a spa, recover his nightcap (not the rim), and transplant his pj tush flap onto the new fabric.  I had a near perfect match for his fabric, which she approved.  It’s actually specially printed pink stripe fabric I had ordered for an earlier pink stripe bunny.

Here’s BunBun starting his spa (of course he go the pink tub!):

Meanwhile, Bunny’s diagnostic photos showed similar thinning (not quite as see through though). 

Bunny’s people planned to have his clothes and tops of shoes recovered (again I had a near perfect match for fabric) and to give him a spa as well.  Somehow, he managed to avoid a bubble bath photo, but here he is in a rare “patient unstuffed and drying” photo (next to a unicorn who is clearly trying to escape the photo!):

BunBun’s recovering proceeded quite smoothly and she got restuffed with a pink stripe heart to match her new pjs:

Here are her chubbiness approval photos:

And here she is all set to be picked up and go home:

You can see how nicely the new fabric blended with the repaired original fabric of her cuffs, button strip, and tush flap.  His person said: Thank you so much, he looks wonderful!!

Meanwhile, Bunny’s story continued… he also had a very smooth recovery.  And he got a blue striped heart to match his new blue pjs:

Sometimes hearts get fantastic reactions, and such was the case with Bunny.  His person wrote:

Thank you for a picture of his heart! My heart exploded!!!! So so sweet  

Here are Bunny’s first chubbiness photos showing off his new clothes.  At this point, his person opted to keep his original cuffs and shoe soles as is.  We had recovered his pj flap because it had torn too far.  His spine is open here so I can adjust his stuffing:

His person wrote: He looks almost right! I think just a TINY bit more and we should be good! He can be just a hair firmer I think!

So I added just a bit more and sent a few more photos:

The reaction? “ Oh he’s PERFECT! I could cry!!!! I can’t wait to hug him! “

And he flew home to his family’s waiting arms. :-)

Two happy striped bunnies home to keep their families company again!

Some patients, I just know I’m going to share their story from the very beginning, from the very first email contact.  I didn’t know about Velvy that quickly, but as soon as I began his surgery, I knew he’d end up here one day.  The further the surgery progressed, the more excited I was about sharing him and when he flew home overnight last Friday, I couldn’t wait for him to be home so I could start sharing his tale.  He was back in his people’s arms on Saturday, I had their response Sunday, and yesterday, they approved my sharing his story.  So here it is. :-)

Velvy is, as the heading says, a velveteen rabbit.  His original person’s husband was the first to write.  Velvy had “seen better days” and needed some help.  Here are some of his diagnosis photos:

As you can see, he is very well loved!  I offered a few treatment options, from just wound stitching, to partial fur transplants, to full recover.  His original person wrote back almost a year after the original email from her spouse:

I want to send my rabbit to your hospital. I’m torn because I want my kids to be able to play with him (full recover) but also want to make sure he is the same bunny.  It’s just hard to visualize:) what do you think?

We talked about it (via email) and finally agreed that recovering made sense, but we would put his patches and buttons back on top of the new velvet.  We’d also keep his original eyes, but reembroider his nose.  Velvy arrived at the hospital about a month ago.  Here he is with the two closest tan velvet options for his new fur/skin:

They’re pretty close, but it’s really a question of the color his person remembered… had he always been darker, or was he lighter in his younger days?  His person chose the darker velour and surgery proceeded.  A few weeks later, it was time to choose his new nose thread.  Again the question, lighter or darker:

Lighter it was, and surgery continued!  Soon, Velvy was feeling much better.  Fully recovered, with a new nose.  I’d resewn his patches on top, but had tucked their edges so they wouldn’t unravel as easily.  His original buttons and eyes were visible too.  We didn’t touch Velvy’s stuffing, or clean him, so he should feel the same and smell the same when hugged.  His skin was loose where it had been loose, such as at the hip joints, and firm where it had been firm (like on his head).  Here he is post surgery:

His person’s response:

Oh my goodness. He’s perfect. You have helped our family so much (and we really need it right now). Thank you!!!!!!!!

One last thing was needed, Velvy had arrived in a lovely hand knitted sweater.  So he needed to get dressed to fly home.  Here he is, ready to be picked up to go to the airport for his overnight flight:

As I said at the top, Velvy arrived home this past Saturday.  His family wrote:

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for repairing Velvy.  I was a little worried he would not be the same bunny, but he is exactly the same bunny.  You are a master craftsman and I wish you all the success in the world.  

Stay safe out there, these are crazy times – but also, know that you have brought my daughter (and me omg) so much joy as we are stuck inside the house.

My daughter has not let him out of her sight. =)

I hope Velvy’s tale made you smile, and that all of you are staying safe too….

Bunny from Canada

I’m working on a series of posts, a fashion show of patients (Pink and Blue, Catastrophe, Maxine) who got clothes in addition to, or instead of, repairs, but I just sent this bunny home and I was really happy with him, and I love his kind of quirky expression that suggests bunny front teeth, but doesn’t show them, so I just wanted to share him while he was top of mind.

Bunny’s person’s person wrote from Alberta last March. Bunny had had a lot of adventures and was now missing his nose, had a damaged muzzle, and was quite dirty. Here is his diagnosis photo:

What you can’t see there is he also has a big hole in his spine. But… it was all treatable. A spa, some stitching, a new nose, and he’d be all better. If you look closely at the photo, on his left (right of photo) you can see one of the stitches that helps make his quirky face shape.

Here’s Bunny in his bubble bath once he arrived at the hospital:

I know… without the nose and with those bright eyes, he looks a bit freaked out… but I promise he’s ok! And you can see how he’s already much cleaner. :-)

Bunny first got restuffed, and of course, he got a heart with a bit of original stuffing:

Then his wounds were stitched and he got a new nose and all of a sudden, he was his plump happy self, clean and ready for more hugs:

Bunny was ready to fly home to Canada! His person’s person wrote:

“I never told you how good the bunny looks. You did an amazing job and I hope it brings a tear of joy to her eye. Thanks again for restoring this bunny as the sentimental value far exceeds any price range from the department store gifts.”

Bunny flew home yesterday, so he’s probably going through immigration now (customs), but he’ll be home and in his family’s arms soon. :-)