I recently learned of Ted Menten’s passing and was so very sad. Though I had not had contact with Ted in recent years, I am so grateful for his positive influence in my life and the Sasha community.

Ted was very active on the Sasha Mart years before Facebook began and he had a fantastic blog called Sasha Street. He was very creative and artistic and he encouraged others to be creative too. He wrote books and was an excellent photographer.  I am certain he touched the hearts of many people including doll and bear collectors around the world.

This dear bear was made by Ted and I treasure it.

At my request, Ted created the pattern and made this gorgeous studio doll outfit. He used antique christening dress fabric.  This is Alice, a BIII studio doll, modeling his creation.

Such beautiful detailing.

Ted put much attention to the details of the outfit including the back of the gown.

This is the under slip. The neck and arm openings are scalloped. Please notice the lovely work along the hem.

A closer view.

The pantaloons are trimmed in fine lace.

Next are three waist coats or vests Ted made to fit Gregor.

This is Teddy modeling Ted’s waist coats.

Teddy is fondly remembering Ted Menten and the many wonderful contributions he made to our Sasha community. We are very grateful and blessed to have known him. Rest In Peace Ted. ❤️

In the previous post, I shared this photo of new additions to our Sasha family and explained that Cathy Himmel and I had exchanged dolls at the Sasha Festival in Cincinnati that resulted in Shelly returning home to Sasha Shangri-La. Shelly is shown here in the center wearing her original outfit.  She is a BIV studio doll.

Shelly, BIV studio girl

Shelly came home with me after the Cincinnati Festival and Cathy sent with her a beautiful red studio dress made by Ruth Hartley.  The dress was inspired by an original studio dress made of fabric from Trudi’s Pajamas. How nice is that!  I love the way fabric and materials were recycled in Sasha’s studio.

Next, you see a photo of the original studio dress shown in the book “Sasha-Puppen Sasha Dolls” by Stefan Biffiger.

However, we still needed bloomers, socks and shoes to go with the red dress and so I contacted Ruth and she made them up quickly to complete this wonderful studio outfit.

Here is Shelly wearing her version of the red dress.

The bloomers are a wide white and red check, knitted stripy socks, and brown leather studio style shoes.  I am thrilled with this outfit!

It is perfect for Shelly.

Shelly up close.

You can see Shelly has a bracelet on both wrists.

Her identification bracelet was made by Beth, Cathy’s daughter at the Rochester Festival.

On her left wrist is her Sasha tag.

Beautiful Shelly.

A lovely book of inspiration gifted by a dear friend. Shelly and I are reading it together.

Shelly selected a lovely knitted shawl for herself and it was made by Diane Duke.

Shelly in her shawl.  This will come in handy very soon as we approach Fall.

A beautiful way to stay warm.

I especially love this photo of Shelly.

Close up photos of Shelly.

Thank you for visiting with us today. We hope you enjoyed the post.  Shelly and I are sending you happy wishes for a wonderful week to come. 🥰 xxx

A Waterlogue image of Shelly. ❤️

The Sasha Festival was fantastic. I am posting photos of the lovely things that I brought home with me.

My rescued pet, his bed and the crafts are shown above. The bag with the gray fabric is a cute hat to make and the bag in the bottom of the photo is a net to catch insects or maybe a butterfly.

The delightful Fiona’s bag was sewn together by my sweet daughter-in- Law Mollie. ❤️

A terrific denim Festival dress received plus fantastic brown leather sandals by Marti. Love the fringe!

Another wonderful Festival outfit received to include a great safari outfit, socks, and sturdy brown leather boots.  Very smart!

This sweet lion outfit for a lucky Sasha baby was such a nice surprise.  A wonderful gift for helping with the Dress a Sasha contest. Thank you dear Heidi. ❤️

A beautiful dress received during a hostess gift exchange.

A most useful Festival gift received on Sunday.  Plus an invitation to next year’s Festival in Pittsburgh.

A handmade, lovely table gift received from hostess Laura Osterdyk.

A hostess gift from Laura Ward and me to those who sat at our table the first night. 😊

Cassie Rogers of Sashapotamus made these wonderful custom bags, and filled them with these goodies, for us to offer as a hostess gift.  Each one had a  t-shirt, a nature journal, and an insect in a see through container. I love it! Cassie personalized the back of the bag too.  Thank you Cassie!

A wonderful auction win donated by Ellen Church. Beautiful!

My second auction win donated by Virginia Myers, mother of Brenda.  Such a dear outfit  and JJ shoes.

Colorful Marti sandals I received in the gift exchange.

I bought in the sales room this gorgeous Scottie dog smocked dress made by Julie Ruleman.

Other new things bought in the sales room. On the left a Dollie Patch outfit that was on a new girl I adopted. The three dress sets on the bottom were made by Frances Tricket. The shorts above were made by JoAnn Staricha, the orange leather tie shoes made by Sheila, pretty sandals in the plastic bag made by Monica, purple leather shoes by Marti, and an orange print dress with pinafore also made by Marti.

Gorgeous shawls made by Diane Duke. They were quickly snapped up by happy studio dolls living here at Sasha Shangri-La.

This cheery corduroy dungaree set was gifted to me by Laura Osterdyk.  I loved it on sight when I saw it on her studio doll.  She kindly gave it to me. Fully lined too!  Thank you Laura.

I bought this second dungarees from Laura in the sales room.

Helper items i won! I was very lucky.  The music dress was donated by Mary Righos.

A beautiful gift from a special friend. This wonderful tote bag with a fab orange swim suit and gifts inside.

A wonderful dress made by Jackie Hyatt that Mollie gave to me. It was on a beautiful doll she bought from Heidi and Mollie redressed her at the Festival. Thank you Mollie.

Another helper win.

Shared dress pattern. A beautiful envelope isn’t it?  I hope to try and sew it!

Laura O. made this dress and donated it to the raffle for Betty Jean. Tricia won the raffle and so kindly gifted me this sweet dress to remember Betty Jean. Thank you Tricia.

Beautiful girls that I adopted at the Festival. You have met Flora (on left) in a previous post but I am thrilled to say that Shelly (center) has returned to me. Shelly is a BIV studio doll that lived here before and was adopted by Cathy Himmel.  Cathy recently asked about a studio doll living here named Nellie. Nellie was not for sale but Cathy and I talked about her and also about Shelly.  Cathy already loved Nellie so much and I loved Shelly so much that we decided to have an exchange between us.  I am over the moon to have Shelly back! Plus Cathy is very happy with Nellie who now is called Nell.  Thank you Cathy!

I also adopted this beautiful Jackie Rydstrom rerooted girl on the right. Since she came in a winter outfit, I redressed her immediately in this beautiful outfit that I bought from Julie Ruleman in the sales room. She is wearing purple leather sandals from Sashapotamus. I have named her Candy.

Sasha Shangri-La is a much happier place since the Sasha Festival in Cincinnati. I am very grateful to Heidi for giving us a wonderful Sasha experience. Many thanks also to everyone that contributed to this happy event. ❤️🥰❤️

Most of you know that a group of us attending the Sasha Celebration Weekend were able to assemble a charity doll using a Sasha head mold that Janet Myhill-Dabbs covered with fabric and beautifully painted.  The project was approved by the Morgenthaler family and each of the doll makers had a kit waiting for them at Eastwood Hall.  A portion of the cost of the doll went to children’s charities and so they are referred to as charity dolls instead of course dolls. This fantastic wooden tag was kindly gifted to all the doll makers by Florence D. Gadol.

Please meet my charity doll Megan. Her powder blue corduroy Ruthsdolls dress was generously gifted to me by Mary Righos.  I added the Ruthsdolls pinafore that came with another dress and gave her hand knitted socks and black leather shoes. I am over the moon for this lovely girl. She is with me most of each day as I carry her from room to room.

Megan likes sitting on the front porch in the rocking chair.

I have loved cloth dolls since childhood and this little one has really endeared herself to me.

Each doll maker also received a hand made onesie for their doll as a lovely gift from Jenny O’Donnell. 

Look! Another generous gift for each charity doll is a lovely, colorful hand knitted scarf made by Gillian Buchanan.

Having a charity doll is alone a gift.  These wonderful additional gifts just make these dolls all the more special. Many thanks to everyone for their kind generosity.

Megan up close. ❤️

Megan received another gift from Auntie Janet before we left the UK.   A beautiful handmade floral head ring. It is perfect for Megan.!

Look! Who is this little one? Megan has adopted this precious Gotz baby Alek who is now called Lexie.  Megan is her closest sister and best friend.

Lexie up close.  Her wonderful outfit was made by Chris Meatyard. She is holding a tiny stuffed owl.

Lexie is wearing sweet powder blue leather shoes made by Noreen.

Hello there lovely Lexie. We are happy to have you here at Sasha Shangri-La.

A very happy little girl.

Megan and Lexie are waving goodbye and sending you hugs and happy wishes for a wonderful weekend. Thank you for visiting with us today.

A Waterlogue image of sweet Megan. ❤️