Royal Duo

A modern fairy tale starring Prince Gregor and Princess Sasha (who make a very cute couple).

Boy meets girl ...

... they fall in love ...

... she borrows his clothing.

Meet Prince Gregor

When I bought Princess Sasha, I also bought Prince Gregor from the same seller. His outfit might seem a bit silly (though it coordinates well with Princess Sasha as you will see in my next post), but his haircut and blue eyes are adorable. Unfortunately I didn't warm up to his wig either, and he was sold on to a new home as well. He is also a limited edition, though far less rare since about 3000 were made in 1985.

I don't plan on buying any more wigged Sashas, though I may change my mind someday. I love my two re-roots though, and have already been discussing a potential third with Bettina.

Meet Princess Sasha

Like many Sasha collectors, I longed to own a rare Sasha Princess from 1986. She was intended to be a limited edition of 3500, but fewer than 400 were made before the factory in England closed. She has such a sweet look in all the pictures I've seen, with her distinctive blonde wig and brown eyes. I was thrilled when I found one for a reasonable price, complete with her box and certificate. When she arrived, I was surprised by how little attention I gave her. She and I just didn't connect -- a first for me with regard to Sashas. I finally concluded that it was her wig I didn't like (yes, that beautiful wig). I love wigged dolls in pictures, but apparently not so much in person. After months of contemplation I decided to sell her on for another collector to enjoy, but not before taking a few pictures.

Her outfit is elegant yet understated, and I love how all the pieces pull together. The pale pink and navy blue contrast nicely, and the hooded cloak and jeweled neck ribbon are perfect accessories for a princess.

I still think Sasha Princess looks sweet in pictures, but I also think I made the right decision for me when I sent her off to a new home.

Visitor Map

I use a stat counter where I can see how many visitors my blog gets each day. One of its features is a world map showing the location of recent visitors (or at least the location of their internet service providers). Here is a snapshot from this morning:

It's nice to see that people around the world are viewing my blog. I know that some people stumble across it while searching for a non-doll Sasha (keyword activity is another feature, so I can see how people found my blog -- scary sometimes), but hopefully most viewers are enjoying the pictures and information presented here. Feel free to comment on any of my posts, even anonymously, as I love the interaction and feedback.

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.

♥ 2011 Sasha Festival ♥

The 2011 Sasha Festival is happening July 14-17 in Springfield, Illinois. This year's theme is "Pieces of Time". The registration deadline is May 1, so there's still plenty of time to send in your registration if you haven't done so already. Registration information can be found at the official website.
Boo and I have already registered!

Here are some additional details from Charla McGuire Neal regarding this year's "Dress-A-Sasha Contest".

Theme:
"Children of the White House"
Many of our Presidents have brought their children to live in the White House over the years, including our two Presidents from Illinois, President Lincoln and President Obama. Dress Sasha, Gregor, and/or baby Sasha to represent any child or children of a President, who has lived in the White House. The contest is open to registered attendees only. Entrants are asked to provide their own doll stands. Space for each entry will be limited to 18 in. by 18 in. Please include a photograph of the White House child or children your entry is meant to represent.

Entry Categories:
Youth - Age 8 to 17 years
Adult - 18 years and up - Outfit made by entrant. Entrant must make all items except for shoes, socks, underwear, and accessories.
Adult - 18 years and up - Outfit assembled by entrant. Clothing may be purchased or made by someone other than the entrant.

Happy New Year

My posts have been sporadic lately, but I came close to meeting last year's goal of blogging weekly -- I almost averaged once a week, with 49 posts for the year. I also succeeded in sewing a bit, making 10 tote bags and three pinafores, as well as starting (but not finishing) a Swiss dress. I still have about a dozen dolls to introduce, and lots more clothing, props, and display ideas to share. With a new job keeping me busy, I'm going to try and maintain the status quo rather than make new blogging goals for this year.

In addition to the pale blue tutu, I received two other boxes with Sasha goodies in the mail the week before Christmas. The first box contained a baby walker that I'd won from Shelly on eBay. I'm so glad that I won this because it is the perfect size for Cleo (who's wearing a Dollydoodles sleepsuit here). She's hard to photograph, but oh so adorable.

The second box contained eight pairs of DollyBlue boots (plus a surprise pair of bright pink shoes!). Here is Chloe wearing a pair of pink boots that I won on eBay, along with a Sharon Clancy outfit that deserves it's own backstory. I'd seen this outfit for sale on eBay back in the spring of 2009, and thought it was really cute. I noticed the dress and bits for sale this past fall, but decided against buying it without the cape. Then a few weeks later the cape was offered for sale. Oh how I wished I'd bought the dress when I had a chance. Fortunately I knew the seller, and was able to contact the new owner of the dress to see if she would be willing to sell it to me. As a reader of my blog she offered to give me the dress; I felt awkward being given something that I'd asked for, so we agreed on a trade: a pair of purple DollyBlue boots that I'd bought with the cape. Thank you Chris, and Nikita too -- I love this outfit!

And thank you Carrol, for making me all those boots. After winning the pink pair on eBay, I contacted her about buying purple boots to replace those I'd traded, plus boots to match my three folk outfits (blogged about here and here). My original thoughts were black for the central European, brown for the Bavarian, and white for the Swedish, but with custom boots I wasn't limited by those colors. Unable to decide, I bought multiple pairs; these are great boots and I know they could/would be worn with lots of other outfits. I also have a fourth folk outfit now, which needed no boots since it came with wooden shoes. I was made by Helena in Canada, AKA the eBay seller dolliepatch, and modeled after an old picture that I believe is of Dutch girls. Don't these four look stunning?!

Any thoughts on which color boots look best: red or white with the Swedish outfit, green or brown with the Bavarian outfit? Here's a close up of the five boot colors being worn by the dolls in the photo above.

Pale Blue Tutu

Sue at the Sasha_Mart Yahoo group posted a picture in November of "Sasha's ballet class", with a blonde Sasha and several other dolls all dressed in tutus. I contacted her through her Crissy doll website, and was pleased to discover that she made the tutus herself and would gladly make one for me. We settled on blue, as I thought it would look nice on Giselle (who already has several pink tutus). Sue even made matching blue ballet slippers and a floral headpiece to complete the outfit. Now Giselle is ready for another production of Sleeping Beauty, but this time as Princess Florine instead of Princess Aurora. I think she looks really sweet in this ballet outfit, and couldn't wait to share some pictures (click on any photo for a larger view).

Thank you Sue!

PBK Doll Kitchen

The kids are home for a snow day today (basically just slush), so I'm playing instead of working. I'd had my eye on some cute doll kitchen pieces at Pottery Barn Kids, which I ordered when they went on sale recently. They arrived in yesterday's mail, so I unpacked the box today and let Giselle try them out.

In my opinion they're too small (and too pink) to be real kitchen appliances, but they're perfect for a little girl's play kitchen.

Pinafore Challenge

Ted at the Sasha Street blog hosted an online Pinafore Challenge this summer, with an entry deadline of September 15th. I decided that I was up to the challenge now that I have a sewing machine, and created three entries. Since all the entries have been posted (73 total!) and favorites voted for, I am now publicly sharing which are my designs. These are my official entry photos as compiled by Ted (and included here with his permission):

Cameo - pink dragonfly

Cindy - blue duck

Cybil - green rabbit

We were supposed to submit two full-length photographs of each pinafore, so I took pictures both with and without a coordinating blouse (which I made using a Peggy Trauger pattern). I took pictures of all three together as well; I'd always envisioned these as a trio, and think the pinafores look even nicer when they're grouped together. I'm really pleased with how both the pinafores and the pictures turned out.

And now, a bit of behind-the-scenes information:

I was inspired by jumpers at The Trendy Tot (which are far cuter than mine). I knew nothing about how to make appliques, so I contacted my friend Megan at Bellflower Textiles. She walked me through the process, which was easier than I'd though it would be -- gotta love double-sided fusible interfacing. That was the only thing I purchased for this project, along with buttons; I limited myself to choosing from the fabric that I had on hand. The pinafores themselves were cut from a sleeveless chambray shirt that I no longer wore and was planning to donate to Goodwill.

I decide to blanket stitch around the appliques, since I wasn't sure I could maneuver my machine accurately to stitch them down. It's only decorative anyway, as they're stuck down well.

The pinafores are fully lined in white muslin, except for the straps which match the appliques. They pull on, with closed sides and buttons at the straps. These are my first-ever attempts at buttonholes on a sewing machine!

I certainly challenged myself, and had a lot of fun in the process.