Hobby Day

Friday was Hobby Day for the second grade, and each child was asked to bring something related to one of their hobbies. Boo decided her hobbies were dolls, nature, and "screen time" (wii and computer games) -- and brought her dolls. I was thrilled! Calla and Rose were dressed in their fancy gowns, with name cards, a printout of blog posts featuring Boo, and information on the upcoming Sasha Festival. Alas, I didn't get to see it all set up on her desk.

I was lunchtime reader for the class though, and decided to bring some of MY hobby to share -- four of my Sasha dolls. I contemplated bringing a doll-themed book to read, but instead I brought "The Legend of the Old Man of the Mountain" by Denise Ortakales. I explained the doll connection to the class, but it was perfect in other ways too; they're studying Native Americans now, and I grew up in Maine and saw the Old Man of the Mountain on a Girl Scout trip roughly 35 years ago.

I enjoyed talking about doll collecting, reading the book, and answering questions about Sasha dolls and the Old Man of the Mountain. Several girls asked if they could touch my dolls before I left, and they gravitated to Giselle in her beautiful blue tutu (they were awed that someone made it for me). Kids are so much fun at this age.

I don't have any pictures from school, but here are the dolls that I brought with me. I figured they were a nice representation of the variations. And Sara, Lucinda, and Chloe are all shown in blog posts with Boo.

Since we'd been discussing hobbies, Boo and I worked on her Brownie Hobbies Try-It (badge). She brought the same doll items to her patrol meeting today. The Sasha London is on a bag from The Sasha Wardrobe which she carried everything in, and she had a picture of my doll cabinets as well.

Blonde No Navel Trio

Here are my three blonde no-navels, all wearing Check Repro Smocks from Ruths Dolls. Wow!

Lucinda is in fuchsia, Lynde is in mustard, and Liesel is in blue.

The two 1969 girls, with their heavier eye paint:

The blue-eyed sisters (thank you Ellen!):

Blonde No Navel Duo

I've introduced two blonde no-navels so far, and thought it might be fun to show them together for comparison. Liesel is a blue-eyed blonde from 1970 and Lucinda is a brown-eyed blonde from 1969.


It's lovely spring weather here, so they've changed into jumpers designed and made by Peggy Trauger. I won the embroidered "flying kite" jumper at the 2009 Sasha Festival, while the painted "watering flowers" jumper came from the collection of Audrey Femmer.

Bavarian Outfit

I posted previously about two folk costumes I purchased off eBay. I have since purchased a third, this time a Bavarian style outfit. It was made by the very talented Susan Waite from Australia (eBay seller chirnside), who also made my Swedish folk outfit. She makes such high-quality outfits with an eye for detail, and is very friendly in her communications. I feel fortunate to own two of her creations.


Here's a closer look at the vintage trim on the cap. The rest of the colors coordinate so nicely with the copper and gold roses. It really pulls together all of the pieces in the outfit.


Here are the Bavarian and Swedish outfits together, being modeled by Muriel and Lucinda (my two Gotz no-navels). They both have a cap and an apron, but the colors and styles are very different -- and yet equally charming.

Meet Lucinda

The Sasha dolls that I knew growing up were those that were readily available in the US, the English Sashas. Until I went searching for them as an adult, I didn't even realize that there were other different-looking Sashas that were made in Germany. Many people love them, but I don't find the Early Gotz dolls particularly appealing. Then I discovered the no-navels. To me they look a lot like an English Sasha with an upturned nose and thicker eyebrows. It wasn't love at first sight, but the look grew on me and eventually I decided to purchase one. I'm very glad I did, and ultimately would like to own more -- perhaps a brunette and a redhead to make a trio. Lucinda is from 1969, and is currently wearing a coral corduroy dress from Dayzees.




I am particularly enamored with her hair, which is thick and soft.


Boo is enamored with it too. She was watching me take pictures and couldn't keep her hands off Lucinda between shots. I think she thought the name Lucinda was just a variation of Cinderella, her latest fixation.