Birthdays

Today is my Mom's birthday - Happy Birthday GramMarion!

As a birthday gift to her, I thought it would be fun to share the birthday gifts that she's been sending to me. You see, my presents have been mom-made doll clothes. She used to knit and crochet clothes for my Barbie dolls when I was young, but now is creating clothes for my Sasha dolls. I am such a lucky girl!

Three years ago she bought a set of the Golden Hands patterns on eBay and surprised me with several outfits for my birthday. Aren't they marvelous?!

Last year my Mom had been testing knitting patterns for Susanna Lewis, so I received the items that she made - a ribbed sweater and an assortment of socks (these patterns are in the new book Sasha Dolls, Clothing and Patterns). The chest of drawers in this picture was part of Kendal's table hostess gift at the recent Sasha Festival in Stratford. I haven't introduced this girl yet, but you may know her as Shelly's model Addison - now renamed Raven.

This year she created crocheted summer jackets, modeling them after a jacket that my Grandmother made for one of my Mother's dolls when she was a child. I think I have seven different colors of the jacket, plus one made up without sleeves as a little cape. Alas I ran out of photography time today, so here is a picture from Stratford. Alison is wearing the cape, while Calla, Rose, and Kitty have on three of the jackets. I'll post more pictures at some point in the future.

Thanks Mom!

Gotz Brunettes in Farmpants

As promised, here are several pictures of my two Gotz brunettes in farmpants. The inspiration for Annett certainly came from the earlier dolls like my Marlena. They are quite a striking duo with their brown hair and blue eyes. Despite their similar size, Marlena looks like an older child to me because of her angular chin and more pronounced nose.

These are probably their last photos together, as Annett has been sent to Shelly in the UK to find a new home. Then again, it's possible that they may be reunited at some point in the future at a yet-to-be determined place. One never knows ...

Meet Marlena

Guess I need to get back to making introductions, as I have quite a few dolls that haven't been introduced yet. All of my no-navels are on the blog except for one, so I'll start with her. Marlena is a blue-eyed brunette from 1970, wearing her original brown farm pants outfit. My other brunette no-navels, Muriel and Miranda, are also from 1970 but have brown eyes.

She is similar to the Later Gotz Annett, except without a duffle coat. I'll include some comparison photos of Marlena and Annett in my next post.

A July 4th Barbeque

There were three raffle dolls at the recent Sasha Festival in Stratford, including Amelia the American Doll, which was put together by a group of people (mostly) from the US.

Amelia was won by Laura Horner from the UK, and couldn't have gone to a more deserving person. The look on her face when they announced the winner was priceless (see the picture included in a blog post by DollMum). Not only is she a sweet lady, but she takes incredible photographs of scenes with her dolls; Laura contributed a fantastic picture book to the Children's Fund Auction. Rather than privately enjoying her prize, she created a July 4th Barbeque scene utilizing the raffle items and shared pictures with the Sasha_Mart Yahoo group. I asked Laura if I could repost here on my blog, and she kindly agreed. As the English would say, "smashing".

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As a big thank you to all my friends across the pond who made those wonderful things for the American Invasion festival prize, here is the results of what must have been my largest photoshoot to date. 17 dolls in total, as many as possible dressed in the new outfits having a fantastic time on Independence Day - making full use of yes that barbeque! Amelia as you can see is really at home here in Devon and as well as introducing a few customs for the states is learning a few of ours. I tried to get most things in, some were adapted for the occasion, some had a contemporary twist: all were beautiful. Thank you once again for all your hard work and a very happy July 4th 2012 Independence Day.

Laura x

The Whole Party

Saba and Her Dog Scooby

Enjoying the Music

And the Band Played On

Square Dancing

Good Food and Drink For All

Learning to Play Conkers

Flipping Burgers!

That Barbecue!

Amelia Meets Saba's Dog Scooby

London 2012

I recently wrote an article about the 2012 Sasha Festival for the Sasha Friends newsletter and wanted to include a picture of the festival outfit. I'd taken a few quick photos of the entire outfit while I was still at the hotel (so that I wouldn't have to wait to return to the US before posting pictures), but knew I could do a better job than those. I dressed my '68 waif Adeline in the full outfit with the red warmup suit (which is Boo's but I though it would make for nicer contrast than my white warmup), and took her to the outdoor track at my kids' school for a photo session. It seems appropriate to share some of those pictures now, while the Track and Field events are still in full swing at the Olympics.

If you aren't already a Sasha Friends subscriber, consider becoming one. There are currently two issues a year at a cost of $10 in the US (slightly higher elsewhere to cover the additional postage). You can email Shari Sams for payment information. I know the upcoming issue is going to contain lots of information about the recent Sasha Festival, including an article by me and a little something from Boo too.