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.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 10

I'm working on culling, editing, and uploading my Sasha Festival pictures to an album on Picasa. It is going to take me longer than usual this year, since I took almost 1000(!) pictures. There are pictures of Sasha dolls and Sasha doll enthusiasts, group meals and programs, Dress-A-Sasha contest entries, Children's Fund Auction items, and raffle dolls. Please excuse any sub-par photos: lighting wasn't always ideal, space was tight, and I often felt rushed. Hopefully I was still able to capture the spirit of the festival. Here is a slideshow of the entire album:



Clicking on the picture below will take you directly to my Picasa album. There you can see all the photos from this slideshow, along with descriptive captions. Feel free to email me or add a comment if you know of corrections or additional information for any of my captions.

Sasha Festival 2012

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.