SWEATER SETS FOR THE WINTER MONTHS..

I have been knitting some sweater dress sets to sell on ebay to help fund my red haired 68/69 Sasha, I thought I'd put some of the pictures on here to give you all something to look at while I sort out my next blog.

I have a few idea's for blogs but as usual they involve props and multi outfit changes and much picture taking!

My eldest daughter bought me a new camera for christmas which was very nice of her but means that I now have to work out how to use it! but at least the batteries will not suddenly drop out like in the last one!

Now when I took the picture of these two sets the sun was shining and it made the lilac set look very white in places. So I will need to take another picture showing the true colour.

This set is in crofters dk in lovely blues and greens.

This set is again in crofter dk but in a strawberry mix with blues and lilac.

Crofters dk again but this time in a bright peach and pink mix.

Here is a picture of the three sets together. I think each girl looks so different .

Now this set is in a lovely 4ply sock yarn in a mix of purple,blue,orange and brown.

Here is another crofters set in blues with grey. I did want to knit up all of the different colour crofters I had and take a picture of about ten girls all together but I'm not that quick a knitter and it would probably be summer by the time I finished them!
I have another pink crofters finished  but needs sewing together. I do like this wool that gives the sweaters a Fair Isle look and they dresses go so well with boots and tights or Jeggings, which I bought from Judith at Dollydoodle.

GIFTS FOR CHRISTMAS...

I hope everyone had a good and happy christmas. My Sasha's were very lucky and received a couple of gifts.

My friend Gill gave me this wonderful outfit which I have put on Grace, lovely purple boots, white trousers and a beautiful purple and white sweater and hat knitted by her. I think it suits Grace with her red colouring.

 Toby also received a present from his friend Henry,he was very excited when he finally got to open it.

" A car! I love it" Cried Toby who spent rest of day playing cars.

"Thank you Henry" says Toby shyly.

And the DH said he would buy me my Red haired Sasha!!!!! But dont get too excited I said thank you but it was more than he realised, told him half of the cost which he was surprised by but he gave me some money for my fund so I am closer than I was Before christmas but still a fair way to go.

Just because it was christmas did not stop me looking at all the sites once boxing day arrived! I even saw a Gregor I was tempted by but although he was a 60's boy at a very very good price I resisted and kept my 68/69 fund untouched!! Which for me is somewhat of a miracle ! I  still have a few things to come for my 'children' before I must be good and only purchase something I truely cannot resist if I am to get my 68/69 red in 2012. Yes I can hear all those who know me laughing at that statement...

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS...................

AND ALL THROUGH THE HOUSE, NOT A CREATURE WAS STIRRING,
NOT EVEN A MOUSE....................

           WISHING EVERYONE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

HE'S MAKING A LIST...

AND CHECKING IT TWICE HE HAS TO FIND OUT.......WHOSE NAUGHTY OR NICE.......SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TOOOO TOWN....

Arrrh if only it was so easy! I'd send him my list of Sasha's which grows by the week. Of course at the top would be my red haired 68/69 Sasha, then I would have a red haired 68/69 Gregor, then maybe another slightly different 68/69 Sasha and now after looking at Sarah's dolls and other peoples, I would have to add a slate eyed sasha and a no navel Sasha....and thats just for starters....

How does it happen! We all know we were just getting the ONE....
Then we were only going to collect a certain style or look or just Trendon or just Gotz but gradually we are all over the Sasha range admiring here.. coverting there!
The DH as a theory! He says that there is a drug that is baked into the doll when its made , that means that as soon as you get one and hold it , the drug is absorbed into your skin and you have to have more.......
He could be right!! I told him that meant we cannot help ourselves as it was an addiction! He told me that by January everyone should be cured........I asked why?...... He said after all that cold Turkey!!!!
I replied that the house is now laced with the Sasha drug , so really theres no escape.
Now I'm off to make my New years resolution list does it count if you resolve to get more Sasha's........maybe I 'll call it my new years addiction list....

WHATS IN A CAROL.....................

Zak and Toby and the other children have now finished school for Christmas. They had lots of exciting things happen before the break, Christmas Plays and Party and the carol service.

Zak and Toby loved the Carol service watching all the juniors singing the carols.

They have decided to have a go at singing a carol but they wanted to put more into it by having the things that they are singing about with them.

"What carol shall we sing?" asks Zak
" What about silent night?" offers Toby
" No that would be too hard. How would we show a silent night!"
" Keep quiet!" Giggles Toby
" I know lets do On the first day of christmas" says Zak excitedly
" Yes I love that one" smiles Toby.

The boys hurry about collecting their props and when they are ready they start singing.

" On the first day of christmas my two loves gave to me.........

Toby stops singing to ask " What is that?"
" It's a hair tree! " states Zak
" A hair Tree ?" questions Toby
" Yes you know " Zak starts to sing " a parting in a hair treeeeeee"
" but wheres the parting ? "

"Here"

" Nice one" giggles Toby " lets sing next line"

"On the second day of christmas my two loves gave to me........"

"...Two purple gloves and a parting in a hair treeeeee"

" their not purple!" argues Zak
Toby rolls his eyes " They are pale purple! " he states indignately
Zak looks doubtful but lets it pass..." right next line"

" On the third day of christmas my two loves gave to meeeeeeee.....

three French pens, two purple gloves and a parting in a hair treeeeeee"

" How do we know them pens is French? " queries Toby
" Because when a pen runs out and dad's in a hurry , he always says a bad word then says ' excuse my French' ! so they must be French pens!"

Toby looks reasured at Zaks words.

" On the fourth day of christmas my two loves gave to meeeeeee four calling words... " Sings Toby
" Hold on !" demands Zak " Whats a calling word?"
"mmmm" wonders Toby " I know , its when you call someone!"
"Eh!"
" Well when Mrs H from next door sees dad come home she always calls out ' Hello , had a good day at the office?' so Hello must be one!"
" Then Hoy you ! must be one cos Mr Black always shouts out that when someone starts playing football near his car!"
Toby Giggles " Then Clear off must be one too"
The boys spend sometime laughing, before getting back to business.



" Ok lets start singing.....On the fifth day of christmas my two loves gave too meee ..... five gold thingsssssss"

" Thats Six"
" Well I could not decide if the key was gold because its going silver underneath. So I got mum's knitting cos it looks a goldy colour"

" Take mum's knitting away cos thats really yellow not gold, the keys ok "

Zak picks up the knitting. " Have you got anything for the sixth day of christmas...?"
"What! " asks Toby in disbief " is there more than five?"
" Yes theres twelve days"
"TWELVE"
" Yep! But I cannot remember what the other days are! " Says Zak
" Well thats good cos I only know five too and lets stick to that, how many days does christmas need anyway ! once we've got our presents its all over!"
" But they do put all the childrens films on the Tv"
" Thats true and we have to eat turkey til we begin to look like one! "

" Well lets sing it all from the fifth day, then go and see if mum's made them mince pies like she promised"

" On the fifth day of christmas...my two loves gave"
" Hold on! can you have two loves? " asks Zak
" Duh! Mum loves us and Dad loves us! "
" Oh I see "
" Now from the fifth day and no stopping"

Two little boys voices flow on the morning air " On the fifth day of christmas my two loves gave to me  Fivvvees golddd thingsss, four calling words, three french pens, two purple gloves and aaaaaaaaa parting in a hairrrrrrr treeeeeee"

SECRET SANTA ARRIVES IN THE VILLAGE...

This week I received a lovely parcel from my secret santa. The Sasha's were very excited to see what was inside and so was I !

A lovely festive box filled with goodies for the Sasha's and me. Dungarees, a cardigan, hat and cape, some chocolate ( which I say is for me but the Sasha's disagree!) and a sweet little rabbit with her own basket,cushion and carrots!
I owe all these lovely gifts to a lady from Texas called Virginia. Which is nice to know and I thank her most sincerely.
But I sent my gift believing that it was secret! as in SECRET SANTA!  Was I mistaken? was I supposed to add my name? It was the first time I have taken part in Secret Santa so I thought it was meant to be a secret!!!!
Would be interesting to know what others did/thought?

However once again Thank you Virginia , I'm now off to wrestle the chocolate out of the sasha's hands! will it be tears before bedtime???? mine...

POLLY WALLY...

DOLLIEDOODLE ALL THE WAY.....

Today I was home from work so able to take delivery of my new fleece coats for three of the babies!
Judith at dolliedoodles is so talented and makes such lovely clothes that try as I might I have been unable
to resist a last purchase before Christmas, below are a couple of pictures of the babies.

Dulcie,Sweet baby James and Rosie in their coats.

The girls are wearing their Hagnolly sets which are a perfect match for their new coats.

Unfortunately some of the boys are moaning that I'm supposed to be getting them joggers and beanies from dolliedoodles! But the babies needed coats now the weather has turned very cold and there could be snow!!!

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING.....

Are you a lover of dolls ? or a lover of Sasha dolls? or a collector of Sasha dolls? there is a difference.

 Sasha doll  collectors will own Sasha's in their orginial clothes and they will be displayed in glass cabinets to be admired and added to as and when that longed for missing doll appears for sale.They will be wanting to have dolls across all the Sasha years and styles or may only collect the Trendon or Gotz .

A lover of Sasha dolls again will only collect Sasha's but will purchase the ones they want and be happy even if they do not have their orginial clothes and will not feel the need to acquire them. A waif or two will be among their collection. They will purchase clothes to make their dolls look lovely and appealing.

Now we come to a lover of dolls...... I am a lover of dolls so will give you my thoughts on this. I loved dolls as a child, was always out pushing my dolls in my twin pram ( until my younger brother decided to take one of the springs and lost it ! ) and I loved to dress them and put them to bed. I progressed to a Tressy ( not interested in sindy!) tressy's hair grew! by then I would make my tressy clothes from scraps of material, no patterns were needed just a pair of scissors and a needle and tread.

Then I became an adult and dolls were left behind  while I explored the big wide world , got married and had three daugthers, which reintroduced dolls back into my life. Dolls and teddies were bought and dressed and cared for , by myself as much as my girls!
If I was in their room and a doll was naked and buried under other toys , I would rescue said doll , dress her and place her where she could watch the world go by. Nutcase to you...but saviour to a suffericating doll or teddie.....
Then the girls grew up and dolls again were packed away .

And while I was sleeping the doll world moved on, until one day I was coasting on ebay and there she was A Sasha and the rest is history, my sleeping doll lover awoke and many Sasha's and gregors later here I am !
But I'm a doll lover which means that as I wait to buy my next Sasha or Gregor, other dolls  appeal to my doll loving soul  and having been awaken from my sleep I see all the new dolls that have been made and designed .

Which is why I also own a Sylvia Natterer doll, a boy and girl Cats and kidz and three gotz dolls, a precious day red haired ( naturally) doll and two Sarah/ Hannah dolls.These dolls have fed my need for a doll without costing too much when I'm trying to be good. However they too have needed to be dressed and cared for! so maybe not such a saving after all!
 And one of my reasons for having these dolls is that when and if I get any grand children these are the dolls they can play with until they are old enough to have a Sasha or Gregor, if they would like one...of course I'd have to buy them one because they cannot have one of my children! and I would have to have it sent direct to their home because if it came to me and I took it out the box and I held it...Well It would suddenly have the need to stay a while...a year or six ....

So there you have it, the confessions of a doll lover.... Now I'm off to look at Shelly site to see if the red haired sasha I'm saving for is still available or if I'm going to have to cast my eye over another doll on that site. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of Tally (red haired) and Molly ( blonde) who I will let children play with....honest!!!

ZAK AND LIBERTY RETURN.....

On Tuesday Zak and Liberty were sent off to hospital. Liberty who is the first Sasha I ever bought had decided to get wobbley leg syndrome and was in need of new stringing in her legs.

Now Zak had arrived with his arms held in by some very strange wide pink elastic and his legs string so tight it had caused some chest caving. He does had a few other play marks but is a lovely looking boy. He has been very sad since arriving being unable to play because of his loose arms and the ache in his chest.
But I finally got my act together and posted him and Liberty off to Brenda Walton for some dolly treatment.

Well they left on tuesday morning and arrived home safe and well on friday morning, such service, they had no time to get home sick.
Zak has nice new strings and no chest caving and Liberty now stands without trying to take a dive.

Here they are posing on the Lych gate.Liberty is doing some modelling of a sweater I'm selling.

" Look Mum! I can hold my arms out "

" Ooo Thats a big flower, Shall I pick it for you? Look I can reach ,Mum, I can! "

" Hey Mum Look !  I can climb the tree now"

Mmmm I can see that Zak is going to take a little while to calm down from the excitement of being able to do things!

THE THINGS YOU FIND...

Today I decided to sort out a few things to put on ebay, trying to sell things that I no longer need or use for my Sasha's.

Early last year I bought a wooden bench from ebay that was for displaying dolls but I felt it was too small for my sasha's and so It has been taken apart and left to one side. Everytime I have listed to sell on ebay I have forgotten to do this bench until today.

You can see that has usual I was paying attention to the position of my subjects!!! I was using the girls to give idea of scale of bench.

I then decided to go and get one of the babies to put on bench to show size hopefully clearer.

Now I'm sure you are now thinking,what I realised once I'd taken this picture! Why am I selling this bench when it makes a perfect seat for the babies!
Which proves that you should always consider other uses for an item before you sell or give away. When I bought the bench I did not have any babies and did not intend to have any, until George made his appearance and now those of you who have read this blog know there are now five of the little devils..oops angels.
The only problem now is finding somewhere to put it!

NOW THAT THE WEATHER IS STARTING TO GET COLDER....

I thought I'd do a blog on coats.There so many talented people out there making lovely coats and jackets to make our Sasha's and Gregor's and the babies too, toasty and warm over the coming winter months.

These lovely fleece coats and jackets come from Karon's site Nellierose where you can find lovely outfits and other items for sasha and also all other popular dolls. But I must warn you it's very hard to come away without filling a basket and being poorer after a visit! And they are being modelled by (from the left) Ethan, Annie and Zak, who is about to go into hospital to get his stringing fixed in time for christmas.

Now here we have two coats made by Sarah of Vintage Sasha, a hooded coat in a lovely brown with blue and cream pattern and a purple tweed with matching hat.The third coat is by woodman which I purchased on ebay last year, she does not appear to have returned yet to tempt us with her lovely coats. I love the colours of this coat. My model's are Claudia, Evie and Dusty

Here we have Sophie-Elizabeth wearing a purple cord hooded duffle coat by Nikki at Sashadollstyle.Nikki makes these coats in her collection each season in lovely colours. So far I have only managed to snaffle this one.

Now what a picture! These are my friend Gill's gotz girls in the Ruth Dolls duffle coats with boots, socks, hats and mittens. These beautiful sets look so sweet on the sasha's ( and can be worn by Gregor too). I have a couple of these duffles but decided that putting Gill's picture on of Ruths full range would save me having to dress a couple of my girls and taking more pictures ( Yes such laziness!) but it is a great picture.

This is the first coat I bought my Sasha a couple of years ago, it's a lovely warm looking coat ! Yes I know she is wearing sandels but this is a picture I took in the summer, hence the background of plants!  and  I forgot to take one today but found this one on computer.I usually team it with some nice white boots.

Found a picture of Ethan in Duffle so have put it on so the boys are represented

Some more of Gill's girls in their coats. these ones by Sarah of vintage sasha, Woodman and Alexisofie.

This beautiful padded jacket is by Olive (Hagnolly on ebay) with the lovely pixie hats and mittens to match. I just love these jackets and the hats and mitten sets and so does most everyone else , they are snapped up quickly when they appear on ebay! So you have to be passing at just the right time to grab a jacket or pixie set.

Olive's Pixie sets come in lots of lovely colours.


So you can see there are some lovely coats and jackets available out there to keep our 'children' warm and snug this winter.Teamed with hand knitted hats, mittens and scarves,all will be snug as a bug in a rug!!

IN THE PINK...

I have not had time today to take the pictures for my blog, so I am putting on this picture of a sweater dress and hat that I'm listing on ebay. It is a lovely blend of pinks with a touch of lilac, looks so nice and warm on Sapphire.

Now that I have put wooden garden table away for winter, I have to find other places to take photo's !

TREASURES.....

When I first started collecting Sasha's I decided that I would make some clothes for them and also to sell on ebay to help fund my 'habit'. That was in 2009 and I have purchased some lovely material since then and some lace and some patterns, however what I have not done is actually make anything!
 Well thats not strictly true, I did make a skirt once and put it with a sweater, scarf and hat I knitted and a basket of christmas goods for Sasha and sold it on ebay.

I thought you might like to see some of my Treasure that is still awaiting my attention....

And this is only half of the material stashed away...

Part of the problem is time ( I'm an expert at wasting it) and part is that I really like the material and the lace and it seems a shame to cut it up!!! which defeats the object. However I have decided that if I want my 68/69 Sasha I need to make use of these materials and put the money received towards my Sasha.........
So my sewing machine is now near the kitchen ( where its been for a month at least) ready to be put on table and used...........However that does mean that Poor old Hamish, my DH's westie who does not like the sound of the hoover nevermind the sewing machine will not be happy.....

This is a picture of Hamish doing what he loves best...sleeping with his head on whatever as been left on floor wedged into a corner!

Now as I was taking a picture of my material stash I thought I'd take a picture of some of my wool because at least I do use this for Sasha but just like with my other treasure I have a habit of promising myself I will not buy any more, then looking a my favourite ebay wool shops and the next thing half a dozen balls are winging their way to me.......but this is all in the interest of saving money! Its true ...you have to buy more than one ball to save on postage! and ofcourse if you are buying two why not add a couple of others that you like because it will only cost you more to buy them later!!  You see there is a valid reason I have so much ....but I am using it I'm just not a very fast knitter.......

Look at all the lovely colours!! like an Aladdins cave of jewels! and this is just from a few bags of my stash, we will not mention the four large plastic boxes upstairs in the Sasha room......But some of that is for knitting things for the family which as gone by the wayside because its quicker to knit little things for Sasha than a sweater for a person.

 Here are a few of the unfinished items that I really should sort out. I have at least made some of my ends of wool into a blanket ( in truth I have about four different size ones on the go ). Now I was supposed to be making some tights this weekend for Sasha but I have had to do this blog and check all the Sasha blogs and ebay sasha's and Shelly site  AND BUY SOME WOOL..etc and the weekend's now vanished...... I know I'll start tomorrow............

IS THIS A BOBBIN I SEE BEFORE ME?

SHE WAS ONLY GETTING ONE.....

Back when I started to collect Sasha's, I like all newly 'in love' people  wanted to spread the joy and so I told my sister of my Sasha's and the joy of getting them at a good price on ebay. She to, had always liked Sasha's and I said " why dont you buy one!" which she did, also a pintuck like my first purchase and she was very happy and she said those immortal words " I'm only getting one" This statement was made in 2009.

Well yesterday she emailed me a picture of some trousers she had made one of my Sasha's, I asked her to send me some more pictures that I might put on my blog, you will see the reason why below.........

From Left to right..Kitty,Megan,Ivette,Devon,Demelza,Maisie and Piper.

L to R Erin(key to your heart doll),Rose,Meredith,Frances,Sabrina and Mia.

L/R Daisy, Poppy and Nieve........remember only one.........

L/R Virgi l,Harry ,Sebastian , George and Gideon ................

and then Millie,AJ and Molly......

Oh and she has one on layaway with Shelly...........

Mia in the second picture is wearing the trousers she has made me and when she sent the picture the Sashas were all grouped behind her, which is why I asked for the pictures!
 I make that 24 Michelle with the one at Shelly's!

The Sasha spell strikes once more...........