Today was another cold, wet day and, for some of us living here at Sasha Shangri-La, cabin fever was the main course. My boy Finn is a true outdoors boy and he loves to play, fish, hunt, swim, hike, canoe ride, skate, bike, base ball, and just about any activity that takes place outside. Finn is very frisky today and the photos will show him having fun indoors.

Finn is wearing his new boxers and socks by Sharon. He scampered all around the house today in his boxers–what fun!

Finn loves his puppy, Fetch and he takes Fetch just about every where he goes.

Here we see Finn trying to convince Mommy that we should go outside and play. He wears his warm duffle coat but nothing underneath except his boxers. Mommy held firm and told him “Not today Finn”.

Finn then finds his monkey friends and asks them to play.

The monkeys just love Finn, especially the babies!

Then Finn hides from Mommy and I look for him but see only monkeys…

Then I hear several giggles that give Finn away—where is Finn? There he is, hiding with the monkeys 🙂

Finally, Finn is dressed warmly and he is a good boy!

I had a fun day with Finn here at Sasha Shangri-La though we were just monkeying around most of the time. It is nice to have days where that is perfectly okay to do! Have a wonderful week to everyone that reads this post!

Hugs from Finn and me to you 🙂

I am looking out my window today as the snow continues to fall and cover nearly everything in white. How lovely it is and, by delaying my work day, it is providing me time to pause to remember how I came to adopt the beautiful Kendal, a 1967 blonde NP. This lovely doll was listed for sale by Nancy Miller on her website ” Let’s Play Dolls”. Nancy wrote an excellent description and provided many photos of this girl. The next two photos are Nancy’s photos and I asked her permission to post them here for this sole purpose. She kindly gave permission and you can see how lovely this Sasha is and her condition was nearly mint. When I saw the photos and decided to try to adopt her, I contacted Nancy. I made the leap and bought her and can still recall her arrival and my heart racing with excitement. She was my first blonde NP girl with eye lashes!!! As described in an ealier post, Carney was the first blonde NP girl in my collection and she was made in 1966. Carney has beautiful big eyes with no lashes. This sweet girl looks very different from Carney and I carefully removed her from her expert packaging. I could only stare at her for many days. She was perfection to me and I was a bit intimidated at first to touch her hair or clothing.

During my early “stare only” period, I was waiting for this NP to whisper her name to me and she did and it was certain to be “Kendal”. I have loved the name Kendal and heard it first from our very own, well known Sasha collector and Sasha blog writer, Kendal Hackney. I wrote Kendal to ask if she thought that was a good name for her and she did!!! So, this beautiful NP was named Kendal. After naming her, I found it much easier to handle her and began to redress her. I carefully stored her original brown corduroy outfit for later.

I dressed her in Ruth’s doll baby blue corduroy outfit first which looks so nice with her blue eyes and coloring. These photos were taken last year when the lilac was blooming.

A close up of Kendal and I think we were both a bit shy at first.

This pretty dress and pinny were made by Nikita and her shoes and socks are by Ruth’s dolls. I particularly like the length of this dress.

I was very fortunate to attend the 2012 Sasha Festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. I took Finn and Kendal with me and here they are in the hotel room, the hotel lobby, and the last photo is Kendal wearing a favorite smocked dress made by Karen Warnaka. Kendal also modeled clothing on Lorraine’s sales table. It was a beautiful white studio dress that Lorraine created. I was not able to locate that photo of Kendal.

Kendal is happy to wear this special smocked dress made by Joan Wilson. I love the tiny beads in the smocking and have loved Raggedy Ann dolls since I was a toddler. In fact, Raggedy Ann was my first doll.

The last photos of Kendal were recently taken of her new, soft corduroy dress made by Nadia. Her socks and shoes are by Ruth’s dolls. Kendal is particularly lovely in short dresses. I think that may be true because she is very petite (not quite 16 inches tall) and the shorter length is more becoming. I love her sweet expression and pretty face. Kendal is a jewel in our Sasha family at Sasha Shangri-La. I hope to show more photos of her dressed in play wear soon. I would like to introduce a few more Sashas too.

Thanks to everyone for visiting and hugs from me and Kendal to you.

Faith and Ellen are dressed in their Ruth’s dolls outfits and send Happy Valentine’s wishes to you today!

Carney and Faith wearing pretty pink outfits received in Sasha Valentine’s swaps several years ago. Jean Jensen shoes make for happy feet.

Have a great day!

Please meet the unflappable Miss Hope and share a part of her history. The first time I saw Hope was on facebook. Her owner lives in the UK and posted photos of her new Sasha find.  She said the original owner wanted a boy Sasha to play with and so…. snip, snip, snip….the long, blonde hair was removed and a new boy’s haircut emerged on this beautiful, early girl from 1966. I am certain the change must have been most dramatic. Hope was previously  named “Bobbie” during her brief facebook stay. Soon after, the owner offered to sell “Bobbie” to me and the journey across the pond delivered this delightful early Sasha to me. I named her “Hope” before her arrival and knew most definitely she would no longer be a boy or a “Bobbie” because I had “hope” for my new girl.

Hope was waiting on me when I returned from the Sasha Festival last July. I purchased a Monique blonde wig from Heidi Wheeler at the Festival. The wig tag is photographed if anyone is interested in the details of the wig. It says honey blonde but I think it is more of a platinum color.  Also, the wig fibers are baby fine and not the usual texture you find on our Sashas.

I immediately put the wig on Hope and took photos. These photos shows Hope in her new blonde wig. I was so excited about her possibilities!

Hope has her bear in this photo that kept her company while traveling to the US. I dressed her in this Ruth’s dolls outfit which is a favorite of mine.

Hope looks very different in this auburn wig with a bob cut. This wig was in my mother’s wig collection. At that time, last summer, I did not have an early girl with red hair and this wig gave me pause to question whether Hope should remain a blonde.  I also liked the length of the cut.

Dressed for play, Hope loves the water fountain and getting wet too!

Showing Hope without a wig and in a pretty pink corduroy outfit by Ruth’s dolls as she plays by the pumpkin patch in early August. It reminds me of the lovely summer days that seem far away today with the bitter cold outside. I wanted so much to make right choices for Hope to include a spa treatment and, now I began to consider a possible re-rooting.  You can see I added a pink headband to enhance her feminine charm.

In addition to the wigs, I brushed her hair and tried various clips, bows, hats, and hair bands to help me fully appreciate her short hair cut.  Here are a few photos of these attempts.

My, doesn’t Hope look sweet in her big pink bow? She is wearing a bright and cheery dungarees outfit made by Wilma Robards. I met Wilma at the Sasha Festival and she is a dear lady with a terrific sales table.

This full length photo allows us to see the super cool Birkenstocks made by Marti Murphy. I met the very nice Marti at the Festival and admired her handiwork with shoes and tea dresses.

Here, Hope is sporting a yellow hat made by Erica. Her dress was made by Millie Dingham and it has lovely smocking on the front and back of dress. I met  Millie at the Festival and  she is a very kind lady. I was able to buy this dress plus two outfits for the boys.

After spending time with Hope and playing with her hair, I eventually decided to have her re-rooted. I contacted Pat Pellerito and we shared emails and Pat agreed to help Hope. Pat sent hair samples and over time and several discussions, I decided that my Hope should remain a blonde. I boxed Hope up to go to the spa and, once again, she traveled by plane but stayed in the US this time. It was harder than I thought it would be to let go of Hope.   😦

Knowing the hearts of Sasha collectors, Pat kept me close to Hope. Hope sent regular letters to her Mom. Here is her first photo showing how relaxed she was in her spa robe.

Another photo provided by Pat of Hope during her treatment.

The final photo Pat sent was this beautiful image of Hope, nice and clean, re-strung, and a head full of long, gorgeous hair. I could see that Hope was very happy and confident with her new look. Perhaps she remembered her long hair from years ago. Pat placed a photo of Hope’s sister, Chloe, in the background to help Hope not feel homesick ;). I absolutely love Hope’s hair!!!

Hope was home with me in time for the Fall holidays and Christmas. I have taken more photos of her with her long hair and will share a few here.

Hope snuggled next to Chloe

Hope wearing a Vintage Sasha outfit and posing on Daddy’s Jeep!

Close up photo

Hope wearing dark green corduroy dress by Ruth’s dolls at Christmas.

This photo of Hope is most recent in a new corduroy teddy bear outfit by Lorraine–I love it!

This final photo is a close up of Hope who is a very happy girl and loves her Sasha family. I “hope” you enjoyed following her recent journeys.   Hope sends hugs to everyone and special greetings to wish you all a wonderful day. xx

Today, the snow is falling and I have the luxury of staying at home. My first thought was to post to the blog and that I must focus on my dear, sweet Gwennie.  Gwennie was my first Sasha and she is a studio doll.  Her body type is B, her face type is III, and she is an early girl from the 1940’s. She is not quite 20 inches in height.

When I first saw Gwennie, I was immediately drawn to her beautiful face and her lovely hair.  I can remember when my hair was this color and length and imagine that was certainly some of her appeal in that she felt familiar to me.  I purchased her from Marie Morgan and Gwennie made her journey across the pond in safety and in good time.

The next grouping of photos will show Gwennie in her one-piece under clothing with ric-rac trimming and close ups of her face and body. It has been my experience that these type of images are not often seen outside of the good Sasha books and, since most of us that love Sasha dolls are visual, I am hoping these photos will please the viewers. I should mention that Gwennie’s head and shoulder plate are made of gypsum which is a plaster reinforced with fiber. Her head is quite heavy and pivots easily. Her body is made of cloth with jointed arms and legs that move with ease. The type B bodies are not marked or signed. The stuffing is wood chips and is also called excelsior. You will observe that Gwennie was played with and has sewn repairs and thinning of her fabric in places. I can see the wood chips in one small hole. Wood produces a tannic acid which, over time, will wear down the fabric fibers. I think Gwennie’s fabric is worn by play, exposure to the air, and by her stuffing within.

These photos show more of Gwennie’s face, type III. You will notice both of her ears have suffered some dings and paint loss on the upper and outer lobes. Her wig is human hair and she is a redhead. I love her fluid eye painting and strong brows. I never tire of looking at her 🙂

Gwennie came to me wearing this lovely sage green smocked dress with pant, one-piece under clothing, knitted socks, and leather shoes. Her clothing is not tagged but it fits her very well. Her dress has faded over time and you can see her pants are darker in color. I am looking for a tagged, smocked Sasha dress for Gwennie and so far, I have not found one. I was very fortunate to find a fabulous duffle coat which looks so nice on Gwennie and fits her very well. Here are a few photos of her clothing and the tag on her coat.

Last year at the Sasha Festival, I met Dawn Law and we shared various Sasha doll stories. I showed her Gwennie’s photo and learned that Dawn had previously owned Gwennie. I was thrilled to learn this piece of Gwennie’s history.

One last short story about Gwennie happened at the cell phone store not long ago. I have Gwennie’s photo as my screen saver on the phone. I gave the young man working there my phone to see if he could help me with a glitch. He went to the back of the store and came out later to return my repaired cell phone. I thanked him and as I turned to leave, he said “Oh, your daughter is very pretty.” I said “Thank you” with a big smile–Gwennie is very pretty indeed 🙂