Table Hostess

Only three days until I leave for the festival, and I'm still busy working on various projects. Tina Gross and I volunteered to be Table Hostesses together, and I've been pushing the boundaries of my creativity. I'm going to keep the gifts a surprise until after the festival, but will definitely share pictures when I return. For now here's a sneak peak at part of one project, a montage of my 1968 English Sashas.

Meet Esme Elizabeth

I set up a "photo studio" on my dining room table yesterday, to take pictures to use in a table hostess project for the festival (more on that later). Since I had a space set up with a solid background and lighting, I decided to utilize it for pictures to introduce another of my dolls.

Esme is a Brunette Gingham, most likely from 1971 (that was Shelly's opinion from her stringing, clothes, eyes, tube, tag - the standard clues). Her hair may fall in the future, but seems to be holding for now; she lost a couple of hairs when combed by Shelly, but none when I gently brushed it today.

From my recollection, Esme is like the doll(s) I coveted as a young child, which belonged to sisters who were friends of mine. I'm certain that those dolls were from the early 70's, when they were being sold in the US by Creative Playthings. I would have been seven in 1971, which is close if not right on the mark. I believe my friends both had Brunette Ginghams, though one may have had a Blonde. They were like no other dolls I'd ever seen, with their cafe-au-lait coloring and serene faces. I remember thinking they looked a bit like Indians (we didn't refer to them as Native Americans back when I was a child), with their long brown hair and dark skin. My childhood wish ...

... has come true as an adult (on a much larger scale, since I only dreamed of owning one or two).

UPDATE: Memories involving these sisters are an integral part of my childhood. The younger sister was my age, and my best friend in grade school. The older sister was a year ahead in school, and was my close confidante in high school. I eventually lost touch with both of them after we headed off to college, but have been back in touch with the older sister through facebook for a while now. I hadn't told her about my Sasha collection, or my coveting of their childhood dolls, so I feared she might consider me daft when I sent her a link to this post. If so, she kept that to herself in her reply. She no longer owns her childhood doll, but confirmed the accuracy of my memories; she had a brunette gingham and her sister had a blonde. She remembers buying them at the Creative Playthings store in Boothbay Harbor. I usually give my dolls a single name, but have decided that she should become Esme Elizabeth in honor of my childhood friend.

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!):

Meet Lynde

Hard to believe it's been three weeks since my last post. My summer days are anything but lazy, and there just isn't time to get everything done. I took pictures of Lynde a week ago but wasn't satisfied with how they looked, even after editing. I finally found some time to try again today, this time outdoors, and am much happier with the results.

Lynde is my third blonde Gotz no-navel, though they are all slightly different. She is from 1969, and has blue eyes like her younger sister Liesel (both came from the same collector). Their friend Lucinda is also from 1969 but she has brown eyes.

Boo is watching over my shoulder, waiting for me to be off the computer. She says that I should say Lynde is "beautiful". She's right, though I think all of my Sashas are beautiful.

Look for comparison photos of Lynde, Liesel, and Lucinda in my next post.

1969 Brunette Parties

My favorite posts involve comparison photos of my dolls. I love to see (and share) the similarities and differences between the "same" dolls. Here is my new Lorrie with Lilith, another 1969 side-part Party. That's not a ding on Lilith's nose, just a light reflection; her vinyl is far less matte than Lorrie's.

Just for fun, here are Pandora, Lorrie, and Lilith ... pretty maids all in a row. Pandora (who I originally called Layla) is from 1968, and has almost-black brunette hair. She was most likely originally a Gingham, but was dressed in Party attire by her previous owner.

Meet Lorrie

Lorrie is my most recent Sasha purchase, and has jumped to the head of the blog queue. She wasn't an intentional gift as I first inquired about purchasing her almost two months ago, but she arrived on my birthday. What a fun coincidence! She is a 1969 Brunette Side-Part Party with crisp clean face paint and slightly falling hair. She still has her gold tag and original outfit, minus footwear -- I found her a pair of replacement socks and appropriate shoes in my stash.

I discovered how photogenic she is this morning, and adore her sweet expression.

Her face paint is particularly exceptional and looks brand new: no lip rubs, great coloring, and wonderful eyes with the outlined iris and pinprick pupils.

This was a Sasha birthday for me in more ways than one. My friend Tina (AKA dollydetroit) sent pinwheels for my "Five Amigos", and Boo's two dolls as well. I will try to photograph them all in a future post, but for now here's Lorrie checking out one of the pinwheels.

And my Mom surprised me with a box of handmade goodies, including clothing she knitted for my Sashas from the Golden Hands patterns (which I didn't even know she'd purchased). I will share pictures of these in a future post as well.

Festival Schedule

Here are some additional details from Jan Johnson regarding this year's Sasha Festival schedule:

Thursday, July 15th, 2010
4:00pm Early registration begins, in the hotel lobby
6:00pm Meet and Greet - Hotel Library, adjacent to lobby - no-host bar, light hors d'oerves

Friday, July 16th, 2010
8:00-12:00 Registration, in the hotel lobby
9:00-12:00 Workshops - Sierra Ballroom
12:00-1:30 Lunch on your own - Chutney Grill in hotel, or downtown Burlingame
1:30-3:30 Gift Exchange (bring a wrapped Sasha-related gift, $20 value) - Sierra Ballroom
3:30-4:30 Guest Speaker - Sierra Ballroom
4:30-6:00 Free time! Shopping in downtown Burlingame, walk along the Bay, socializing
6:00-9:00 Banquet Dinner and Program - Sierra Ballroom

Saturday July 17th, 2010
8:00-5:00 Helper Items Viewing - Tiburon/Sausalito rooms
8:00-1:00 Auction Items Viewing - Sequoia/Redwood rooms
9:00-10:00 Dress-A-Sasha Contest (details here) - Sierra Ballroom
10:00-12:00 Free time!
12-1:00 Lunch Buffet - hotel courtyard
1:00-3:30 Children's Fund Auction - Sequoia/Redwood rooms
3:30-7:00 Dinner on your own - Chutney Grill in hotel, or downtown Burlingame
7:00-9:00 Sales Room - Sierra Ballroom

Sunday, July 18th, 2010
9:00-12:00 Brunch (thank-yous, 2011 festival, helper item/raffle drawings) - Sierra Ballroom

Busy As a Bee

Alas, I haven't met my goal of blogging at least once a week recently. My husband has been away quite a bit the past two weeks. Between that and the extra busy-ness associated with school and kid's activities winding down, I just haven't had any free time. I'm hoping for a new post this week if the clouds part for long enough to take photos (this is our third consecutive rainy day, with more forecast through midweek).

My Swiss Dress sewing efforts have also stalled, partly due to lack of time but also because I'm hoping to buy a sewing machine as a birthday gift for myself (my birthday is Thursday, but due to the busy holiday weekend I may not shop until next week). There are still over seven weeks until the Festival, so I'm not worried yet. Though perhaps I should be, since I need to get cracking on Table Hostess gifts as well.

1968-69 Dungarees

When I wrote a post comparing my Blue Cords, I noted that Audrey (my one 1968) looks delicate/dainty compared to the others (all from 1969). I feel the same way about Fiona when I look at her compared to my other Dungarees. She definitely stands out in all the groupings I tried, not just due to her wispy bangs, but also her eyes.

Here she is between my other "dark" Dungarees: Hayley (left) and Harlow (right).

Here she is between my Dungarees that have narrower faces: Hayley (left) and Hester (right).

Compared to my Redhead Quartet, I think Fiona looks most like Hayley. They might pass for cousins or even sisters, but certainly not identical twins.

Meet Fiona

This doll was an eBay gamble that worked out in the end. I knew she had white stringing in her arms and flecked in her legs, so she was a fairly early doll. The seller described her as having no bangs (which I doubted), and thought there might be a groove under her nose but wasn't sure (the pictures weren't clear enough for me to tell). It wasn't until she arrived that I knew for sure that she had both bangs and a philtrum.

I forgot to take a "before" picture of her tangled hair, but I washed it and uncovered her fine fringe. This picture was taken to show the seller ...

... because while she had beautiful hair now, she smelled awful!

I showed the seller that the doll had bangs, and also complained about her very smoky odor. She replied that the doll came from an estate sale and she hadn't noticed the smell due to a cold. After checking with her doll resources/friends, she concurred that the smell would be very hard to remove, if not impossible. She had a return policy, but instead we agreed on a nice discounted price.

I then set about trying to remove the smell from Fiona, my first 1968 Redhead Dungarees. First I aired her on my screen porch for several months, then I made a leap of faith. Instead of trying traditional odor removers -- baking soda, activated charcoal, kitty litter, coffee grounds -- I decided to use Biocide. We have a camper that was also in need of de-stinking, so I took Fiona apart and placed her inside it while the Chlorine Dioxide did it's thing. I consider the treatment to be a success; it does not appear to have damaged her in any way, and even to my sensitive nose she is nearly odorless!

Here are a few pictures of her in her original outfit, which cleaned up nicely with Perk. Now I just need to see if I can repair the straps on one of her sandals.

Comparison photos with some of my 1969 Dungarees will follow shortly.