Sasha Festival 2012 - post 9

I probably should have included this next picture in my previous post, since it was the "Lucky Dip" gift that Boo received for helping show the auction items. Each of the young helpers received something different, and all that I saw were fantastic. Boo is thrilled with her fairy outfit, which fits with the theme of the festival.


I bought another pram from a friend, who also threw in diapers, socks and tights for Boo's babies, and a few treats for me. The red and blue berets are the perfect colors for one of my sales table purchases.


I would have put a beret on Alison if I'd thought about it when I was taking this picture. Here are the clothes and shoes I bought from the sales tables (plus another knit baby outfit in white).


I was a bit rushed taking photos, so I left these sweaters in their boxes. The weather in NC is hot right now, but I'm sure you'll eventually see them on my dolls in future posts.


It's hard to tell with nothing else in the picture for reference, but those books are the perfect scale for Sasha. I had been admiring them online, and plan to buy more in the future.


Boo chose some clothes for her dolls from the sales tables. The middle baby outfit has a kitty pattern for Kitty to wear.


She also chose some little props from the sales tables, though the silver case, colorful purse, and tiny coins were all gifts from dear friends. Yes, the whoopee cushion works. She has all these treasures tucked inside the locking case (along with the hippo baby outfit).


I think these are the remaining new items we're bringing home. Boo won the puppy outfit in the raffle (it's not a baby outfit, but works on baby "Puppy"). The pink jacket was a gift to Boo from someone who won multiple raffle items. Along the side are three half-meter pieces of Liberty fabric that I purchased on sale in Stratford.


Hopefully I didn't miss anything while I was taking pictures in the hotel room. It's hard to believe how many extra things I have to pack, including several large delicate items. I'm heading home soon, and will work on a labeled picasa album/slideshow like I've done in past years. Until then, I'll leave you with a picture that I took as we were gathering our things at the hotel - Calla and Rose wearing their new frog dresses.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 8

Here are pictures and descriptions of the auction items that Boo and I won:

(24) PAIR OF GREEN SHOES made and donated by Rosie Bloomfield. Worked in pale green leather, the sandals have a diamond open work pattern on the front and close with studs at the side.
(55) PAIR OF RED SHOES made in red leather with a side fastening and donated by Rosie Bloomfield. The shoes have their own matching shoe box.


(32) TURQUOISE SUNDAY BEST. A joint donation with a flowered cardigan knit by Lora Garrison coordinated with a turquoise dress smocked and sewn by Norvell Jones. Outfit includes underpants, socks, and burgundy Mary Janes.


(50) BERIBBONED BEAUTY made and donated by Marti Murphy. The dress is vintage cotton eyelet with various coloured ribbons threaded on the bodice and skirt. Petticoat, underpants and socks included with peach shoes donated by Jean Jenson.


(51) BABY DOLL AND CRIB donated by Dawn Law. The blonde baby has a beautiful pink decorated crib with mattress, pillow, fleece blanket, and coverlet. The baby has a white sleep suit, with a white smocked dress and panties, petticoat and pink shoes. (Baby Kitty is wearing the second outfit in this picture.)


(79) PRAM SET knitted and donated by Sue Palmer. The set comprises a jacket with ribbon accent, leggings, bonnet, mitts, and includes a wrap over vest and panties.


(86) GARDEN FURNITURE and depression glassware by Carolyn and Dominic Ruscio, donated anonymously. (This is from the 2000 Sasha Festival held in Huddersfield.)


I originally planned to include sales table and other items in this post, but am going to save that for tomorrow when I have more time to sort through photos.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 7

I always like to take pictures of the festival souvenirs. The more time passes and the more festivals I've attended, the more likely it becomes that I will forget what came from where. I took speedy pictures at the hotel on Sunday afternoon, since I know life will be busy when I return home and it could have been ages before I got to it.

I included Boo's name tag, auction card, and mug in this photo, but she has a duplicate of all the other items too. The festival bag was a red tote bag with the Sasha logo and festival information printed on it. It contained: the festival journal (which I've only managed to skim so far, but is fantastic!), catalog of auction items, auction cards (I was #51, the picture on the backside of Boo's is just to the right), name tag on printed lanyard, booklet from the Museum Lindwurm, card with information about the new Sasha clothing book, and printed pen. Also included in the bag but not shown in the picture: flyers advertising Sasha clothing websites, and pamphlets of things to do in the Stratford area. There was also a printed mug and another pen at each place during Saturday's luncheon.


I've showed pictures of pieces of the souvenir outfit as we received them, but it's far nicer to see the entire outfit on a doll. Since we had three girls with us, I put two in the different colored warm-up suits, and one in the shorts, singlet, and sneakers.




Here are a couple of close-ups of the embroidery on the warm-up suits.


I'll finish this post with a picture of the table hostess gifts that Boo and I received. I love this festival tradition, as each gift is a reminder of the table hostess and a link between the 10 people at the table. Only one mask is shown, because I managed to lose one after brunch while I was rushing around taking pictures. Fortunately it didn't stay lost forever.


Next post will be auction and sales table purchases.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 6

Tea this afternoon was lovely - lovely home, lovely hostess, lovely company, lovely dolls, lovely food, lovely swans ... lovely day! I'm just going to say "WOW!" and leave it at that.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 5

Hard to believe that the festival is already over. Usually I have to rush out to catch a flight right after Sunday's brunch, but this year I'm able to hang out for another day. The only event was "brunch", but that always lasts several hours since it includes thank-yous, mention of the contest winners, an invitation to next year's festival, and the helper item and doll raffles. We sat at one of the big round tables, so there was plenty of room for dolls to stand and watch us eat. You can see our fantastic table hostess gift on the left - Calla and Alison couldn't wait to try on the masks.


We received the rest of our festival outfit - embroidered warm-up suits in red, white, or blue, a Union Jack tote bag, and a little gold medal. Now we have a whole uniform for the upcoming London 2012 Olympics! Ours are different colors; Boo's box contained a red warm-up and a red-trimmed bag, while mine contained a white warm-up and blue-trimmed bag.


Anna Doggart brought her Pierrot to brunch, so I was able to get a close look at this fantastic guy. They never really appealed to me in pictures, but wow is he gorgeous in person.


After we finished eating, Dawn passed the figurative baton to Heidi, who spoke briefly about next year's festival. It will be held July 11-14 at the Drawbridge Hotel in Northern Kentucky (as she says, "The Southern Side of Cincinnati"), with the theme "Return to Childhood". Start saving your pennies!


Boo helped run items and pull numbers for the raffles. I didn't win anything, but she won a dog-themed shorts outfit that she plans to put on baby Puppy. Then it was time to start saying goodbyes to new and old friends ... until we meet again. I don't have many photos of myself from the festival, but perhaps people will share some with me later. I did hand my camera to others for a few special pictures with online friends that I was finally meeting in person. Such a fantastic experience.



We lingered in the lobby and said goodbyes to as many people as we could when they departed. Time for one last photo of the baby display, this time with Boo and her babies, before it was all packed up.


We spent the early afternoon in the room, Boo watching TV and me frantically organizing and photographing our loot. I may manage a few more posts before we head home, but won't have a picasa album/slideshow together until then. We did a bit of shopping, picking up bread, cheese, and fruit for dinner, plus three pieces of Liberty fabric for future sewing efforts. And we did a bit of chatting, both while we were out shopping and in the hotel lobby. We're both tired, so we called it an early night. Lots of packing to do in the morning, then we're off to tea at Dawn's house.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 4

I had tea, toast, and pastries again this morning, but Boo started her day with a full English breakfast.


The "programme" listed on the schedule for the morning turned out to be two more wonderful presentations. First, Marie Morgan talked about Studio Dolls, assisted by her daughter who ran the slide show. She shared lots of great information about Sasha Morgenthaler's background, as well as the face styles and clothing.


The draped table behind her concealed a special surprise, a display of several gorgeous Studio Dolls, including this pair.


After a brief break, Brenda Walton talked about the production dolls, and shared a group of slides taken at the factory (you can see the Studio Doll display behind her in this photo). This was another fascinating presentation.


Here is one of those slides, which shows a doll being strung.


She had a display of dolls to share as well, several gorgeous production dolls whose faces had been painted by Sasha herself. Here is a lovely early redhead.


Raffle/helper tickets were available after the program, so Boo and I tackled the challenge of deciding which canisters to drop tickets into. There are three amazing raffle dolls this year, including a baby that Boo covets. Then it was time for our group luncheon, where we received another part of the festival outfit - shorts and a Union Jack singlet.


Desert was this lovely cake, made up to look like the picture on the cover of the festival booklet.


The Children's Fund Auction was held after lunch. Pat kept things moving right along as auctioneer. Boo helped out as one of the young people who helped parade the item currently up for bid. The auction raised a total of £6580; a big round of applause to everyone involved!


I made up for not winning anything last year - between Boo and I we won seven items! This includes her second baby, who she is currently calling "Puppy" (to go with Kitty, the baby I bought her at last year's festival).


Boo and I grabbed a quick bite during the dinner break, and relaxed in our hotel room. Hard to believe that there was still more excitement (and spending) to come. She and I shopped till we dropped at the sales tables - shoes, dresses, sweaters, props... Good thing I brought a spare suitcase on this trip!


I'm all tuckered out, and ready to join Boo in dreamland. Hmmm, I wonder what she'll be dreaming of tonight?