Sasha Festival 2012 - post 5

Hard to believe that the festival is already over. Usually I have to rush out to catch a flight right after Sunday's brunch, but this year I'm able to hang out for another day. The only event was "brunch", but that always lasts several hours since it includes thank-yous, mention of the contest winners, an invitation to next year's festival, and the helper item and doll raffles. We sat at one of the big round tables, so there was plenty of room for dolls to stand and watch us eat. You can see our fantastic table hostess gift on the left - Calla and Alison couldn't wait to try on the masks.


We received the rest of our festival outfit - embroidered warm-up suits in red, white, or blue, a Union Jack tote bag, and a little gold medal. Now we have a whole uniform for the upcoming London 2012 Olympics! Ours are different colors; Boo's box contained a red warm-up and a red-trimmed bag, while mine contained a white warm-up and blue-trimmed bag.


Anna Doggart brought her Pierrot to brunch, so I was able to get a close look at this fantastic guy. They never really appealed to me in pictures, but wow is he gorgeous in person.


After we finished eating, Dawn passed the figurative baton to Heidi, who spoke briefly about next year's festival. It will be held July 11-14 at the Drawbridge Hotel in Northern Kentucky (as she says, "The Southern Side of Cincinnati"), with the theme "Return to Childhood". Start saving your pennies!


Boo helped run items and pull numbers for the raffles. I didn't win anything, but she won a dog-themed shorts outfit that she plans to put on baby Puppy. Then it was time to start saying goodbyes to new and old friends ... until we meet again. I don't have many photos of myself from the festival, but perhaps people will share some with me later. I did hand my camera to others for a few special pictures with online friends that I was finally meeting in person. Such a fantastic experience.



We lingered in the lobby and said goodbyes to as many people as we could when they departed. Time for one last photo of the baby display, this time with Boo and her babies, before it was all packed up.


We spent the early afternoon in the room, Boo watching TV and me frantically organizing and photographing our loot. I may manage a few more posts before we head home, but won't have a picasa album/slideshow together until then. We did a bit of shopping, picking up bread, cheese, and fruit for dinner, plus three pieces of Liberty fabric for future sewing efforts. And we did a bit of chatting, both while we were out shopping and in the hotel lobby. We're both tired, so we called it an early night. Lots of packing to do in the morning, then we're off to tea at Dawn's house.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 4

I had tea, toast, and pastries again this morning, but Boo started her day with a full English breakfast.


The "programme" listed on the schedule for the morning turned out to be two more wonderful presentations. First, Marie Morgan talked about Studio Dolls, assisted by her daughter who ran the slide show. She shared lots of great information about Sasha Morgenthaler's background, as well as the face styles and clothing.


The draped table behind her concealed a special surprise, a display of several gorgeous Studio Dolls, including this pair.


After a brief break, Brenda Walton talked about the production dolls, and shared a group of slides taken at the factory (you can see the Studio Doll display behind her in this photo). This was another fascinating presentation.


Here is one of those slides, which shows a doll being strung.


She had a display of dolls to share as well, several gorgeous production dolls whose faces had been painted by Sasha herself. Here is a lovely early redhead.


Raffle/helper tickets were available after the program, so Boo and I tackled the challenge of deciding which canisters to drop tickets into. There are three amazing raffle dolls this year, including a baby that Boo covets. Then it was time for our group luncheon, where we received another part of the festival outfit - shorts and a Union Jack singlet.


Desert was this lovely cake, made up to look like the picture on the cover of the festival booklet.


The Children's Fund Auction was held after lunch. Pat kept things moving right along as auctioneer. Boo helped out as one of the young people who helped parade the item currently up for bid. The auction raised a total of £6580; a big round of applause to everyone involved!


I made up for not winning anything last year - between Boo and I we won seven items! This includes her second baby, who she is currently calling "Puppy" (to go with Kitty, the baby I bought her at last year's festival).


Boo and I grabbed a quick bite during the dinner break, and relaxed in our hotel room. Hard to believe that there was still more excitement (and spending) to come. She and I shopped till we dropped at the sales tables - shoes, dresses, sweaters, props... Good thing I brought a spare suitcase on this trip!


I'm all tuckered out, and ready to join Boo in dreamland. Hmmm, I wonder what she'll be dreaming of tonight?

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 3

Momentary panic when I woke up this morning and realized the hotel forgot our wake-up call, but I was awake on my own early enough that it didn't matter. Breakfast was included with our room, so we had a Continental breakfast in the dining room - tea, toast, pastries, and fruit. Boo set up her Dress-A-Sasha entry, then I mingled, chatted, and started taking pictures of the entries. Our morning activity was listed as "workshops/demonstrations" on the schedule, which turned out to be two wonderful presentations. First up were Chris and Chris Meatyard, with a sideshow and explanation of their methods for Sasha restoration and a brief discussion on repainting.





This was followed by a short break for light refreshments and voting on the contest entries. The second presentation was about making shoes for Sasha and Gregor, led by Rosie Bloomfield and her sister (whose name escapes me now). We received templates and instructions for making two styles of shoes, one for girls and one for boys. Boo asked if we can try making a pair, so I guess I may be tackling this at some point in the future. I doubt mine will ever be as lovely as Rosie's - I own a pair and they are divine.





When the workshops ended, the Dress-A-Sasha contest award medals were placed by the entries, after which people started disassembling their displays (the space was needed to finish setting up the auction items). I took a few frantic final photos, and am hoping I didn't miss any. There were so many lovely entries, and trying to pick favorites wasn't easy. Not sure how the voting actually went, but all four of the youth entries received first place medals. Here's Boo and her "Little Miss Muffet" entry in the Fairy Tale category, with Calla proudly wearing the medal.



We had time for lunch on our own, so Boo and I walked to Marks & Spencer and picked up some sandwiches. Then we were off on a coach tour of the Cotswolds. Fortunately the rain held off until after we stopped to wander around Chipping and Campden, where there was a bit of doll photography by some creative folks.





Afterwards, we took some time to unwind in the room and dress ourselves and our dolls for dinner. The festival is full of long days for young girls (and not-so-young girls too). Boo sat at a special children's table at dinner, while I sat with several first-time festival goers from the UK. Good food and great company! We received the first part of out festival outfits, a paper shopping bag containing Union Jack sneakers and white socks.



After dinner, Ann Chandler spoke about the history of Sasha Festivals; she organized the first one 30 years ago (and several more in the years to follow). She also discussed the new Sasha pattern book that was just released, and showed us a copy. I can't wait to get my hands on one! Mine was already ordered, and should be waiting for me at home when we return.



There was more to the evening program, but by 10:00 Boo was tired enough to want to head to bed. She fell asleep watching a David Bowie special, and I retreated to the bathroom to shower and blog. So much fun packed into one day, and more fun to come tomorrow.

6/23 ETA: I learned that last night's program speakers included Anna Doggart (daughter of John and Sara Doggart, who ran the Sasha factory in Stockport). Sorry to have missed that, but I was able to chat with her today and am grateful for the nuggets of information she shared with me.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 2

Whew! What a whirlwind the past several hours have been! Boo is asleep now, and I'm sitting in the dark trying to compose this post. The Meet and Greet was loud, but I managed to do a fair amount of mingling and chatting. It's always fun to catch up with people you've met at previous festivals, and even more fun to meet people who you "know" but have never met in person. I'm surprised by how many people recognized me from my blog, since I still feel like such a newcomer to the Sasha community. Flattering, but also oddly embarrassing. Here are a handful of pictures from this evening (I'll create a sideshow with lots more once the festival is over):






While I wandered, Boo kept herself entertained by playing on my iPad with a couple of friends. This looks surprisingly like pictures from last year. :-)


There was also a gift swap this evening. I didn't participate, but did stand on a chair near the doorway and try to watch. There was no "stealing" of gifts in this swap like we often do in the US, so people didn't open them in front of everyone then parade around for all to see. This would have been hard to do anyway, as most everyone was standing in a fairly small area.



Time for me to get to sleep now, as it's almost Friday already. There's lots on the schedule tomorrow, including a trip to the Cotswolds. Hopefully the weather will by drier than forecast.

Sasha Festival 2012 - post 1

We're here and registered! Meet and Greet doesn't officially start for about 30 minutes, but there are plenty of people chatting in the lobby. We're taking a quick break now, but that's where Boo and I have been for the past couple of hours. Lots of of people here that I recognize from past festivals, as well as people whose names I know but am meeting for the first time. I haven't taken many pictures yet, but do have some of the two lovely Sasha displays in the lobby:

1968 Blonde Quartet

While I was taking pictures of my fringe girls for the last post, I decided to take a few pictures of ALL my 1968 blondes. Here is Audrey with Allegra and Alison. She also has a wide cord dress, but hers is quite faded.

Audrey's bangs are several rows deep, starting higher up on her head than those of the fringe girls.

And lastly, a picture with my waif Adeline. She seems to have a wider face than the other three. Another wide dress, but not corduroy; this one was made by me last summer from the Migros pattern.

1968 Fringe Girls

I have two 1968 blondes with a single fringe - one is wispy while the other is more even. Both have gorgeous blue eyes. I thought it would be fun to photograph them side by side for comparison.

They are wearing their wide corduroy dresses, Allegra in blue and Alison in brown.

Alison will be coming to the festival with me. This may be out last hurrah together, as I'm contemplating selling her. Never easy to part with a Sasha, but my collection is still a bit unwieldy.

Spider Baby

Last year I was sewing dresses before the festival, for a couple of sale dolls to wear. The year before I was sewing tote bags before the festival, for part of the table hostess gifts I worked on with Tina. I thought this year's festival prep would be sewing-free ... but I was wrong. I just finished an outfit for baby Kitty, a special request from Boo for the festival.

My first ever zipper! I used the Baby Snowsuit pattern from Marcy Street Doll Co., minus the ears and plus several extra appendages. I'm so happy with how it turned out, and hope Boo feels the same way when she sees it.

6/15 ETA: She's happy too! My work is done, but now she needs to finish assembling the other pieces of her Dress-A-Sasha entry.

Meet Elke

Elke is a Gotz toddler from 2001. She is my second toddler, joining Sara who is a re-rooted Claudius. I'm seriously considering having Bettina give her mohair hair like Sara, and will post more pictures if I do. I'm not particularly enamored with Elke's original outfit, but have photographed her in it for posterity. Toddlers are notoriously difficult to coax into standing, and Elke's sandals make it even more difficult. The leather seems to have stretched, and given the minimal coverage they want to slide off her feet.

She's a cutie, but I know she'll be even more adorable with a change of clothes (and perhaps a change of hair).