(Above Laura Horner the New Chair Person f the Sasha Celebration Weekend 2020)

Following a very successful 5th event last weekend, Janet Mayhill- Dabbs has now decided to step down from organising the event. Trish Jackson has kindly agreed to do at least one more year. At a meeting at the end of this years event, several people agreed to go on a committee to organise next years event, with me appointed as the Chair.
Janet and Trish have left us very big shoes to fill because the event they have organised has been more and more successful each year and is fair to say now a truly international affair. We are all very grateful for what they have achieved and the legacy they leave.
Of course, whilst it is a big task, on a positive note, the SCW has a format that everyone enjoys. Moreover, as the results of the recent questionnaire shows, there is a clear mandate for the event to carry on with its emphasis on meeting and hosting Sasha friends; the craft and other activities that take place and the huge raffle, all taking place at Eastwood hall Hotel near Nottingham
I want to personally tell you that the Sasha Celebration Weekend, we have all grown to love, will be continuing on an annual basis in May ,in very largely the same format. Whilst there are likely to be a few behind the scenes changes, the outward face and what participants experience ,we hope will all have a familiar feel to it.
The committee members are
Chair -Laura Horner with Deputy Anna Page
Treasurer- Teddy with Deputy Jenny O’Donnell
Communications-Alice Watts
Hotel booking – Tricia Jackson with Laura in a Deputy role
Main Raffle – Theresa O’Neill
We are still looking for a couple of people to assist in communications and main raffle.
Peggy Livingston has helped with the newsletter in the past and we are enormously grateful to her for her help but we would like to see if we can fill this role in the uk due to previous issues with time differences before. We are hoping to create a new website which Alice will lead on. If you have word processing/ publisher skills , we would love to hear from you.
Theresa is looking for a helper for the raffle, the main work being helping her organising the main prizes and collecting and sorting other prizes. I am hoping our present compare Diane Duke will want to continue in the role! We have already got our US liaison ( Mary Righos) and EU liaison (Anette Gross Hecker) to help collect and bring over prizes from abroad.
If you can help with any of these roles then please do contact me. As a deputy, enthusiasm rather than experience is required so don’t be scared to put yourself forward.
So in the meantime look out for
– the new website for which we will post links on Facebook and send you an email about
– the small on line raffle that will take place soon to raise a small fund for any expenses now.
Yours with Sasha love,
Laura x

The Sasha Celebration dolls, started with an idea in Janet Myhill-Dabbs head. She knew that I could cast the doll heads and asked me to take on the mammoth task of casting 30 heads for this years Sasha Celebration weekend. I took up the challenge and it was all going along so  nicely until Parcel Force managed to smash a number of them in transit. I re-cast the broken heads, no mean feat when you work full time shifts and you are also co- hosting another immanent Sasha Event. To make sure the last of the heads arrived intact I personally delivered them to Janet.

Janet sourced some fabric for the dolls and I lent her my  original course doll pattern. Tricia Jackson, Anna Dollmum and Petrana sewed 10 bodies each. Janet’s husband Billy made the soles for the dolls feet.

Janet covered the heads in fabric and painted the faces. There were 3 types to choose from, but you could choose your own eye colour and whether or not you wanted to add freckles, which gave each doll an individual look.

 

 

Janet and I put the doll kits together.

 

 

The first part of the dolls which were  completed Friday night and this  was to place the polystyrene ball into head, place some stuffing strategically into the head, trim the fabric and sew it shut.

Next morning we started again with stuffing the bodies, then adding the arms and legs.

The last thing we did was to attach the wigs to out dolls and dress them.

Ruth’s doll

My doll was based on my favourite studio doll that lives in Zurich Museum.

 

The other Sasha Celebration dolls.

Plus these two,they missed the original line up as  their owners did not want to show them, as they did not have their outfits yet.

 

Both of the outfits for the dolls that Ruth and I made were made by Ruth Hartley of Ruth’s dolls. Ruth Hartley also takes on commission work , so don’t be scared to ask if there is something specific that you would like made. The link to Ruth’s site is below.

http://ruthsdolls.uk/

Lastly it was outside for the group photo.

At the back from left to right we have, Madeleine Foong, Janet Myhill-Dabbs, Diane Pilkington , Tricia Jackson, Me, Anette Hecker, Lee Moore, Hernie baarslag-voorham, Jane Woodward, Liz Sockett, Sarah Golden and Clare Wolff , Alice Hendry, Petrana Arhangelova .

Middle row from left to right, Ginger Mullins, Cathy Himmel, Jocelyn Rose, Anna Dollmum ,Janet Marsh, Anita Fox, Fiona Hinchcliffe, Alison Burke, Florence Gadkol, Brigitte Scwhitter, Peggy Livingstone, Leni Simons, Gillian Buchanan .

Front row from left to right, Beth Himmel, DDD, Ruth, Lucy, Maria Newman, Jane Sweetman. Pam Winter-Turner  and Shelley Cuff.

Missing from the line up Teddy, Jennie O’Donnell, June O’Donnell , Jonty O’Donnell and Diane Duke and Joni Jacobs.

 

The out takes.

 

 

 

 

Sunday it was time to head home with a very happy little girl.

I would like to say a great big thank you to Alan Hincliffe for taking the so many great photos and shooting the videos .

I would also like to thank Kendal Hackney for the original course doll head that I was able to create a mould from.

Thank you to Janet for the last 5 years and happy to know that what Janet. Tricia and I started together will continue next year.

Thanks for looking……………..

Next morning was filled with much excitement as we all went for breakfast. After breakfast it was off to do either, doll making or crafts for those that were not making dolls. I am going to do a separate blog post for the doll making so that you can see its entire journey.

(below the craft tables were set up for those not making a doll)

 

My Granddaughter Ruth attended the Sasha Celebration weekend with me and as her Birthday is a few weeks away, I decided to surprise her with a honey blonde silk dress Sasha doll. I has also brought along a few outfits for her to change into.

As you can see Ruth loves her new  Sasha doll.

After the doll making had finished it was time for the sales tables.

 

After the sales tables it was off to dinner, with memory lane slide show, The International raffle and the Charity raffle.

Below are the raffle prizes.

Below the raffle prizes for the Golden ticket table.

 

After Dinner the International raffle took place, of which there is a video of below.

 

The prize for the International raffle was Prima the Ballerina crated by Janet Myhill- Dabbs.

 

The International raffle prize as you can see from the video was won by Carol Leyland, which was quite poignant, as Carol was responsible for creating and sponsoring the photographic Ballerina competition. Well done to Carol.

After the International raffle the Charity raffle commenced.

Janet Marsh won a golden ticket item and chose the lovely re-paint donated by Pam Winter- Turner.

As you can see she was delighted.

My Granddaughter Ruth also won a golden ticket item and chose the London Girl donated by Peggy Livingstone.

Lucy, Pam’s, Granddaughter also won a golden ticket item and chose the wonderful wardrobe of clothes made and donated by Dolly Doodles.

 

Florence Gadkol also won a Golden ticket item and chose this lovely baby.

Gillian Buchanan also won a golden ticket item and chose a wonderful prize donated by Anna Dollmum.

Janet Marsh won another golden ticket item, a handsome Caleb

Jonty, Jenny O’Donnell’s son won a golden ticket item a handsome Gregor.

Ruth pulled anther golden ticket  and chose this lovely baby.

Leni Simons pulled a golden ticket and received this lovely Gregor.

The last golden ticket prize of the night was a studio re-paint by Janet Myhill-Dabbs, donated by Ginger Mullins and won by Hernie baarslag-voorham

Dinner ended with a touching speech from Janet, which can be seen on the video below.

My Next and final post will be the SCW charity dolls.

Thanks for looking…………….

We all gathered In the bar area for registration and of course everyone was excited to see each other.

Janet was busy in her office distributing the SCW bags, there were 2 types, one for the Sasha celebration doll makers and one for the crafters.

At last it was my turn to get my bag and I had taken along my newly acquired and I believe the only known course doll clown I have ever seen. The story behind this little guy I have called “Bozo”, is that he belonged to one of  Sasha Morgenthaler’s seamstresses. He is unusual in  that he has a hand knotted wig, which is something I personally have only seen on studio dolls.

I had brought a couple of my Sasha dolls with me to join in the fun.

Miss Nobody

Trixie

And Pebbles.

After registration it was time to set up the Mini ME’s and look alike competition

I had two entrants in this group Ed Sheeran complete with facial hair for the look alike section.

and my Mini Me.

Here are the others

Above the winning entry of Sasha Morgenthaler by Maria Newman.

The ballet photo competition was created by Carol Leyland, in honour of her late Mother who was also a Sasha Doll fan. Here are the entries.

 

 

 

The winning entry was this phot by Jackie Rystrom

This photo is the runner  up by Maria Newman.

Friday evening dinner

Gitta came too.

Janets girls.

Mary Righos put together a lovely slide show of previous Sasha Celebration Weekends.

After dinner it was time to start our Sasha Celebration dolls heads.

Tired but happy we reited to our rooms around 10pm, tired but excited for the next morning. Stayed tuned for day 2.

 

Thanks for looking………………

 

 

 

Friday morning prior to registration for the Sasha Celebration Weekend, I decided to take Anette Grob-Hecker and Ginger Mullins on a visit to Chatsworth House a wonderful English stately home.

The present display at Chatsworth house is The Dog.

This exhibition, conceived by the Duchess of Devonshire, explores the Cavendish family’s enduring love for dogs, through paintings, drawings, sculpture, letters, photographs and contemporary art. We’ve sniffed out all of our favourite stories, capturing the idiosyncratic, faithful, endearing and playful character of man’s best friend.
Ranging from historic to present day pieces, specially selected loans from public and private collections will be presented alongside items from the Devonshire Collection, featuring everything from working dogs to woven dogs, dogs on canvas to dogs on camera and from puppets to popular culture.
Star works from Constable, Stubbs, Gainsborough and Landseer sit beside contemporary pieces by Lucian Freud, Jeff Koons, Antony Gormley, Elisabeth Frink and on the South Lawn a specially commissioned eight metre high scaffold dog created by Ben Long complete the dogs in art line-up.

Chatsworth house is amazing, so I will let the photos do most of the talking.

(Above: I had mentioned on seeing the sheep and lambs running about the estate that goats are my favourite animal and then bumped into one)

Once inside Ginger made herself at home.

Anette was very taken with the entrance hall.

(Above: a wonderful statue)

(A boy and his dog)

(Above: the chapel ceiling wonderfully painted. You cannot see in the photo, but there is a secret door to the right in the panelling. During the 2nd World war the chapel was used as a dormitory for school girls and when they heard about the secret door, there imaginations ran away with them, apparently they burst through the secret door expecting to find a secret passage, unfortunately it was a room occupied by the librarian, who was not happy about being disturbed by a bunch of school girls.)

Climbing up the stairs to another level.

 

Into the State room

A view from the window.

The music room with the fabulous 3D painted violin that hangs on the back of the door, I really found it hard to believe that it was not a real violin.

Below a wonderful painting of our Queen Elizabeth with some of her dogs.

 

The photo below just struck me as funny as to me the ape looked out of place in the setting.

(Above: I love the strategically placed thistles to stop you sitting on the chairs)

Below a modernist hall way.

Into the guest bedrooms complete with dog beds, opulence everywhere and wonderfully painted wallpaper.

(Above Ginger opted for this bed)

Another bedroom.

 

we made our way towards the exit as we needed to be back in time for registration.

We passed through the gift shop, picking out a couple of souvenirs  to take home.

We made our way back to Eastwood Hall for the Sasha Celebration weekend.

Stay tuned for the next part which is more Sasha doll related.

Thanks for looking …………………….