Dolly & Me By the Sea: UFDC 72nd Annual Convention 2021 - Baltimore, MD - Part 8

 Friday, July 23rd.

Those who have followed my convention coverage know that I really enjoy volunteering for the Helper drawing. So I was up early and headed down to the Helper Room at 6:30AM. We quickly moved the Helper buckets to the main ballroom site and proceeded to set them up for the drawing. This involves lining them up on tables, stacked 2 deep, and removing the lids and labels and putting them in the buckets.There were about 400 buckets to to do this to this year, so we worked quickly and efficiently, to be done before 9AM.

While some of us were working on the buckets, other volunteers were setting up the tables where attendees could match up their tickets and pick up their notice that they won an item. A couple volunteers were ready to type the winners in a database. 

And we were ready. I was at the spot labeled N-Q - where I would line up the winning tags alphabetically so that attendees could match their tickets up quickly. The winners were called quickly and by the end of the drawings, I had one 3 items! 

Merlot, a doll by Rustie. I think she has an interesting look.

A 25" Japanese Nippon doll.

And a Tonner Fashion Model - Olivia.

There were a lot of happy convention goers when all the tickets were drawn.

The rest of the early part of the day was spent taking a last peek at the salesroom and the UFDC Boutique. While in the Boutique, I noticed that they had some of the lunch and dinner event souvenir dolls in stock.

Yo Ho Ho Maties by Jennie Sykes and Sophie Pearson

Under the Sea by Judy Porter (the doll in gold and the silver mermaid), Love on the High Seas by Ruby Red Galleria, Chesapeake Bay Cuties by Pat Moulton.

And Seaworthy Suits by Elizabeth Cooper.

My room mate and I then spent about an hour relaxing in the bar, before heading to the Ballroom area. We found some comfy, plush chairs and waited for people to arrive for the cocktail hour. And arrive they did! I was even social, LOL. I probably talked for close to an hour about K Dramas (and other Asian shows) with another Dollology club member.

When the doors opened, we all made our ways to our assigned tables. They were decorated with light house centerpieces.

Those who brought table favors, passed them around. I passed out some of the sweaters I had made all Spring.

Gifts from other tablemates included and rubber teddy bear,

Chocolate,

And Paper Dolls. (Shown in the photo below with other items I received during the week.)

Dinner was steak and a crab cake, and a slide show of the week was shared on the large screens.

At the end of the banquet, attendees who had purchased the optional convention doll by R. John Wright, opened them up. She is adorable, and even holds her own little doll.

And that was that, the banquet was over, the convention was officially over, and it was time to leave.

My take-aways from this year's convention: I was surprised at how few attendees were consistently masked up - probably less than 10%; those attending were so happy to be doing something "normal" that they missed out on last year; and I really missed the people that I did not see this year that have usually been at convention. 

I hope that the pandemic is a thing of the past next year.

Dolly & Me By the Sea: UFDC 72nd Annual Convention 2021 - Baltimore, MD - Part 7

 Thursday, July 22nd.

Thursday Convention started with the reason there even is a convention - The UFDC Annual Business Meeting. During the meeting: Officer statements were read, votes were taken, awards were given, and officers were installed.

At the end of the meeting, info on 2022's convention was shared - it will be in St. Louis!

Then at 12PM Public Day started, the Salesroom opened up for the day, the Doll Doctor's set up an interactive exhibit, and Publisher's Preview was live.

Like many others, I took one last walk through of the competition room, to get a closer look at the dolls and took some photos of my favorites and those I thought were neat. Like these early cloth Madame Alexander dolls.

Asian BJDs

If you look closely you can see my tiny Honee-B doll with the blue hair, in front of Rapunzel.

Non-Asian BJDs

My Helen Kish Zoey is barely visible in the photo.

Such a cool Tammy, look at her hair! No wonder she got a blue ribbon.

Skippers!

Pleasant Company American Girl Dolls

Wax-Over dolls

Mary Hartline dolls

Male Celebrity dolls. (My Spock is hiding out in the back.)

Gotta love Shaun Cassidy. He is in much better shape than my Shaun Cassidy doll.

WPA dolls

Dolls costumed by owner

Dolls created by owner. Yes, that is a squid on the doll in front's head.

Some little all-bisque

Dolls by Sandra Wright Justiss

A tiny, little chimney sweep in the Frozen Charlotte and Charlie category

That afternoon, I walked through the Helper room again and deposited the last of my tickets, hoping that I might win some dolls on Friday.

Then it was time to remove my dolls from the competition room. I was in and out quickly, and just in time to attend the program: Japanese Theatre Dolls by Vickie Hanning.

Afterwards, I carried my competition dolls back to my hotel room and Spock posed for a photo with his shiny, new 4th place ribbon. Hooray! One of my dolls placed.

I relaxed the rest of the evening, and read, before going to bed early. The next day I was going to be getting up earlier than usual.

To be Continued in Part 8

Dolly & Me By the Sea: UFDC 72nd Annual Convention 2021 - Baltimore, MD - Part 6

 Wednesday, July 21st.

Like Monday, I made my way straight to the UFDC Mini-Office after getting up in the morning. While we were swamped by a crowd upon opening on Monday, it was much calmer on Wednesday.

In the afternoon I met up with the other members of our Little Darling Outfit Exchange group, and we gave each other the outfits we made. (Most of them, two were still WIPs.) It was so much fun to actually be able to hang out with each other in person.

Another convention friend took a photo of us all together and let me post it here.

We then all went to the Region 11 Gathering. Our Regional director welcomed us and went over some information, and then members told us about upcoming club events. There were even door prizes - everyone present received one. 

That evening I was a table host at the one paid event I signed up for this convention, the Ruby Red Galleria "Love on the High Seas" dinner. 

The table hosts arrived early and set up the centerpieces, companion doll, and table gifts.

The tables looked perfect.

The table gifts I gave to my table mates were crocheted sweaters that fit the Ruby Red Galleria Lia doll.

Merry accompanied me, as usual, this time in her new sailor romper that I sewed especially for the convention. She felt so chic.

After a delicious dinner of crab cakes and a cute and entertaining program, the event was almost over.

The centerpiece was given away to a lucky attendee at each table, and chances to purchase the companion doll were raffled off. Most attendees who wanted one were able to purchase them, since we had 19 available.

Then it was that time - time to pass out the boxes and reveal the souvenir doll.

She is absolutely adorable in her Lolita Sailor outfit. I think that everyone was pleased with her.

The shoes are awesome and next level!

At the end of the evening I got a photo of Merry with her new friend, "Love on the High Seas" Lia.

Table gift swag - everyone was very generous.

A better look at my sweaters.

Finally, I said good night to the dolls and went to bed.

To be continued in Part 7.