An amazing surprise gift....

Some of you will have already seen this on Facebook but I had to share here.  I have a lovely friend in the US who I met through my blog.  Many years ago now, my friend, who I will call J, emailed me saying that she'd found my blog and had been reading all the posts.  We started to correspond via email and became good friends.  We share a common interest in dolls but we chat about all sorts of other things too. 

A few years back my friend had a stroke and her emails stopped for a little while.  Fortunately though, her husband knows of our friendship and he wrote to tell me that J had been unwell and I continued to email with news of the things going on in my life until J was able to write back to me.

J has often written that she wanted to send me things but I have always tried to discourage her as Spanish customs are so awful and the charges so excessive, and I've always felt that she was way too generous with sending me things, but out of the blue she wrote a few weeks ago to say that a package was on it's way to me and was currently in Madrid.  I felt slightly panicked that the parcel was in customs and I would be sent a hefty charge which I couldn't afford.  Then J wrote to say that the parcel had now reached my home town's post office and was awaiting collection.

Last week I went to the post office to collect the parcel, which thankfully, had not been caught by customs.  The box was big, it had cost a lot of dollars to be sent, but what was inside?

The first thing I saw when I got into the outer shipping box was this......(Please excuse my poor photos, they were taken on my phone!!) 

I was sure that J must have been using the tube as protection for what was inside, surely this could not be who was named on the label?

But sure enough, once I opened the tube, there inside was the most precious gift, the little Gotz Toddler Iona!!!!  I could hardly believe what I was seeing... 

My dear sweet friend had sent me her Gotz Toddler Iona as a gift "to cheer me up" as she knows I have been very 'down' over the last 5 months or so.  

I could hardly believe it, my eyes filled with tears that someone would send me such a gift.  

Iona came in her original tube, wearing Toddler Elke's outfit (minus Elke's sandals) and carrying her own canvas shoes, her original bag and beanie style hat!!  Plus a pair of lovely silky knitted socks that maybe come from another Gotz Toddler?  

She is in beautiful condition, with silky soft perfect hair!  I haven't undressed her yet as I have been busy with my mum visiting but I will soon take proper photos of her and maybe dress her in something more appropriate for our warm weather.  Recently I had to put my little boy Toddler up for adoption, so this little girl will be my model when I start making Toddler clothes, hopefully very soon!

There were two other gifts in the box which I will photograph and share with you here very soon.

I am truly blessed with the dolly friends I have, I can never thank J enough for such a generous and thoughtful gift.  

Thank you for stopping by, and for sharing my lovely present with me.  


Big hugs
Sharon xx

For Sale: Nautical outfit for Sasha! SOLD

Yes, I finally did it!!!  I sewed an outfit this weekend to sell!
I hope you like it, it has taken me a lot of "kicks up the bum" to get myself back to sewing outfits to sell, but hopefully now that I've made a start, I will make some more :)
Now I just hope that people will remember me and like what I sew!

The outfit consists of a two tiered ra-ra skirt in cute lighthouse pattern quilters cotton, with lined yoke and tulle underskirt, white knit tee shirt with intricate detailing to the front (both skirt and top close with metal snaps at the back), white cotton sailor hat with gold effect anchor adornment and 'rope' detailing around the edge of the brim, (hat crown is NOT lined), light blue and white striped socks.

All items made by me in new fabrics.
Doll and shoes NOT included.
Price: £30 plus postage from Spain.
Paypal only, Friends & Family or please add 4% to cover paypal charges.
Thank you.
dambuster0662@gmail.com
Please email me if interested.

And now for the photos....

Thank you for looking, I hope you like it. 

Please pop back to see my next outfits which are partly made and hopefully will be completed in a few days!

Have a great week ahead!

Big hugs Sharon in Spain xxx

Bailey Survives 'The Cull'....

It has been a very busy month and my blog, as well as my dolls and my sewing machine, have been seriously neglected.  However, having finally made a good start on my selling, I feel a lot less 'overwhelmed' and there does seem to be some light at the end of the tunnel...even if it's only a tiny glimmer, it's definitely there!!!

In the last week I've listed quite a few dolls on Ebay and as a result, I've sold a small Schildkrot Wichtel boy, my one and only Sasha baby, and my little Toddler Erik.  I wasn't too concerned about the Wichtel boy or the Sasha baby as neither of them have had much attention here, but I was a little sad about Teddy, my Toddler, because he was a real cutie, but he will be going to live with a nice Sasha collector in the US so I'm sure he'll be well cared for and have a lot of fun in his new loving home.

Bye bye boys!!!  Enjoy your new homes!

I will be continuing to add dolls and other items to Ebay, so if you're interested in seeing what I'm selling or who needs a new home, please click on the link below:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/dambuster01/m.html?item=233147670425&ssPageName=STRK%3AMESELX%3AIT&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2562

I hope to be adding more items at the weekend, if not before!!!  

I also had a lot of dolls here that I'd bought on impulse over the last few years.  There were several Barbies, a Fashionista Ken, a Santori Gorjuss doll, some Spanish dolls by Asi and Paola Reina, a couple of Disney Animator dolls, as well as, four Journey Girls that I bought from Toys R Us.  Most of the dolls were either brand new in their boxes or had been removed and undressed and then put away.  I didn't want to put them on Ebay as I felt the postage for them would be more than the individual value of each doll.  So what to do?  I made some enquiries and found out that a local group of ladies collect donated dolls for a great cause that really did appeal to me!!!  So I gathered the dolls, there were around 25 or so in total and met with a very nice lady who told me all about their work.  Some of the women sew, others knit or crochet clothes for the dolls and then they're donated to a charity, Ángeles Malagueños de la Noche, a non-profit organisation, based in Malaga.  The dolls and their wardrobes will eventually go to children who's circumstances mean that they don't get much, if anything, from The Three Kings on the night of the 5th January.  I was invited to attend the next meeting of dolly outfit makers so I may go and see if I can help by sewing some clothing.  Wish me luck!

So now that I'm getting a little more organised on The Dolly Cull, as I've started to call it, and can actually get into my doll room properly, I decided to take one of my girls, Bailey, out with me today when we went to visit Lake Viñuela.  Bailey is my rewigged Brunette Sasha from 1971, and is one of my favourites of my Sashas.  So I thought I'd share some photos.  She is wearing her lovely Ruthdolls dress with brown leather boots also by Ruth and brown socks by me.  Sorry if the photos are a bit repetitive, I just think she looks cute from every angle!!!

 

Well I hope you enjoyed my little update and photos of sweet little Bailey.  I will try to keep my blog updated more regularly now that I'm feeling a bit more positive about my dolls.

Thanks so much for visiting, I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week ahead!!

Big hugs Sharon xx

First sewing of 2019...

Today I finally got to doing a bit of sewing for my dolls, having spent the first month of the year doing all sorts of other things apart from dressing my dolls.  

So I thought I'd make a knit dress, with hat and socks for Dylan, my Robin by Little Cosmos Dolls.  I chose this blue knit fabric which is printed with little fox heads because I think blue looks lovely with her tan skin tone.  The fabric is actually from a pair of pyjama trousers which I bought from our local Lidl late last year.  The striped fabric is from a baby onesie and fortunately matches the printed fabric perfectly.

In other news, I've sold 4 dolls in the last few weeks but still have a way to go....and am still dragging my feet.  My son is coming over for a visit from Wednesday but when he has left again, I promise that I'll pull my finger out and get dolls listed on Ebay, there can be no more umming and ahhing, it has to be done 😟

Although I've not sewn for her in ages, I thought I'd share a couple of photos of one of my favourite Sasha girls, brunette Stella from 1969-70.  She has falling hair so I've never washed or brushed it, but there's plenty there so she's doing fine.  Here she is in a dress by A Passion for Sasha, which I'm ashamed to say she's been wearing since the day she got it....which must be since the spring of 2016!!!!!  Ooops!!  (Socks by  me, shoes by Noreen Walters).

 
Apart from that I've nothing much else to tell you for now, except to say thank you for continuing to visit and comment on my blog!

I hope you all have a great week and that the weather is not too bad where you are!  

Big hugs, Sharon xxx



 

My Sashas get a dusting off.....

It's been ages since I photographed my Sasha dolls so I thought I'd rectify that yesterday and take some photos of a few of my girls....my plan is to photograph all of them over the next few weeks so that they all get a bit of attention. 

Many of you probably thought I'd sold my Sashas as I haven't 'played' with them for a while, but no, they are all still here and still loved!  I had a count up and to my surprise I have 21 Sasha/Gregors, one Toddler and one baby (Oooops! I could have sworn I had less than this!!!).  I sent my brunette baby to the US as a surprise for a friend of mine, she's always so good to me and I'd rather she enjoy the baby than me sell her....so I just have my blond Alberto, who to be honest, is living here on borrowed time!  LOL!  Baby dolls just aren't for me.

So here are a few of my girls.  The first photo is also a photo of 'firsts'.....Millie (named in memory of Milly Dowler who I was reading a book about at the time of the dolls arrival) was my first Sasha and came here in November 2012 from Shelly in the UK.  She is from 1971 and has lovely thick blond hair and a very full fringe.   Her blue eyes were a little bit faded so some time after she arrived, I sent Millie's head back to Shelly for her to repaint her eyes.  I wanted them painted brown and love the way they look now. 

Here is another 'first', she is Bailey, my first wide faced brunette Sasha, as well as my first 'mistake' in that I washed her falling hair.....yes it all fell out, and she became my first wigged doll too, if I remember rightly!!  Bailey is also from 1971 and arrived here, again from Shelly, in June 2013.

I really love Bailey, she has been one of my favourites for some time, but don't tell the others!!! 

Here are Millie and Bailey together, wearing their Ruthsdoll dresses:

And a close up of their faces side by side:

In the next photo are my two blond Gotz Slate Eyes Sashas from the 1960s.  Left is Destin who I bought on Ebay in June 2014 and on the right is Lyric, who I adopted as a 'waif' from Shelly in the UK in August 2013.  Lyric's hair was breaking off at the roots and sadly she lost it quite quickly after she arrived here.  So she was my first Gotz Slate Eyed girl and my first Gotz reroot as I finally got around to rerooting her in April last year.

The two girls in close up.  Destin has a slightly concave face which I love, but I've always struggled to take photos that show how cute she is in 'real life'.  I like how they are quite different too :)

After having struggled with finding the perfect wig for her, I was really pleased with Lyric's reroot as I was able to use original Gotz doll hair from a later doll and I feel it was the perfect shade of blond for her.

Destin, below, often stands like this, as if she has a cute little sticky out tummy under her knitted sweater!!

Next we have three of my brunettes, from left to right, Eden, Willow and Stella:

Eden is the youngest, she's from 1970 and came here, along with her sister, Stella (1969), from a lovely friend in the US.  I had asked my friend if she knew of anyone selling a Brunette and she told me she had two herself that might be looking for new homes.  Of course once she showed me their photos, I just couldn't choose between them....so they traveled to their new home here together, I was going to say "last year" but on checking my records, I was surprised to see that they've been here nearly two years, having arrived in April 2016.

The middle girl, Willow, came from Shelly's the very same month, so all three girls have 'grown up' together here in Spain! ;)   Like Stella, Willow is a 1969 girl, although as you can see, they are only superficially alike. 

Sadly all three girls have some degree of falling hair, but having learned my lesson with Bailey, my first older Brunette, I have never washed their hair and just style it using my hands.....fortunately they all have quite a lot of hair too :)

Eden (1970)

Willow (1969)

Stella (1969)

I hope you've enjoyed seeing a small selection of my Sashas.  Hopefully I will have more photos for you again soon of some of the others :)

Have a lovely weekend!

Big hugs Sharon xx

How did you get here?

I realised yesterday that somehow I had 10 of my Sasha family down here at the coast with me!  Now how did that happen?  I'm sure I only brought a few down here when we loaded the car to come to the coast for the summer.  I am assuming they must have made their own way down here by bus or maybe by the high speed Ave train! ;)

Anyway, here they all are, they wanted to show you their new outfits too, so I thought I'd take photos of them all, even those who aren't wearing anything new!

Here is a group shot:

L to R: Gabrielle, Eden, Willow, Skye, Wren, Teddy (in front), Devlin, Nuria, Stella and Bailey (trying another new wig)
 

I love how, despite having the same face sculpt, they all look so different because of how they have been painted.

I know that readers of my blog will have seen most of these kids before, but I thought I'd still share some closeups. 

Gabrielle is a late 70s Sasha Pink Dress but her eyes have been repainted by Shelly of Sasha Dolls UK and I added freckles and blush.  Her wig is by Mary Madeco Smith and is made of Tibetan Lambswool.
Her outfit is made by me and her shoes are by Marti Sanders Murphy.

Next up is Eden who recently joined us here in Spain from her previous home in the US.  She is a Sasha Gingham from 1970 and is wearing an outfit I made last year, plus boots by Ruth of Ruthsdolls:

Next we have a little newbie who slipped in last week having come to live here from her previous home in the UK.  Her name is Willow and she is from 1969.  She is wearing a lovely new smocked dress by Marilyn Hotchkiss, socks by me and shoes by Marti Sanders Murphy.  I have since changed her socks for white ones as I don't think these striped ones go well with this dress:

Next up is Skye, she is a 1969 Blond Sasha and is wearing another new outfit also made by Marilyn Hotchkiss.  The outfit is made up of a blouse, shorts and this lovely biscuit coloured pinafore over the top, so in effect could be two outfits :)  The socks are by me and shoes are again by the lovely  Marti Sanders Murphy and were a Christmas gift from my dear friend Louise who knew that I really liked mustardy yellow shoes :)   Although you can't see it very well in these photos, the blouse and shorts fabric has orange and yellow owls on it, so the shoes are a perfect match :)

Next we have Wren who is a 1969 Sasha Kilt.  She is wearing yet another new outfit, again by Marilyn, consisting of white shorts, blue and white 'angel' top and sun hat!  I love Wren in blue as it really brings out the colour of her eyes.  Her socks are by me and her shoes are by the late great Jean Jensen.

Next we have Wren's twin brother, Devlin.  Devlin is a 1969 Blond Pyjamas Gregor and poor lad doesn't have anything new to wear.....but I struggle to take off his blue hoodie as it matches his eyes perfectly!!!  His tee shirt, hoodie and denim cap were made by me, his brown cord trousers are Dollydoodles I believe and his shoes are by Boneka.

Squeezed in here is little Teddy!  Teddy is a Gotz Toddler Erik from 2001.  He is wearing striped dungarees and matching cap plus lemon knit tee shirt, all recently made by me especially for him and his shoes are by Lisa Hartley. 

My little redhead Nuria is up next and she is a Ballerina Sasha from 1968.  She is wearing an outfit that I made especially for her last week, consisting of bubble shorts and top.  The shorts are made from a lovely soft fine needle cord which I got from Finland.  I also used the fabric for decorating the top.  Her socks are also made by me and her boots are by Ruthsdolls.

Alongside Nuria we have Stella, the second little brunette girlie who arrived a couple of weeks ago from the US.  I think Stella is from late in 1969 but not completely sure on that.  Regardless, she is a little sweetie and is wearing a pretty three piece set by Passion for Sasha with yellow socks by me and leather shoes by Noreen Walters.

And last but by no means least is Bailey.  Bailey is my wigged ex Brunette Sasha from 1971.  Today she's trying out yet another wig  but will probably go back to one of her others tomorrow.  I am not overkeen on this look for her!   She is wearing white dungarees and navy and white gingham blouse and socks all made by me and her shoes are again by Jean Jensen.

Finally, some photos of groups together:

The boys, Teddy and Devlin:  (Cute teddy bear being held by Teddy, was a gift from the lovely Ginger!)

The Blonds:

Skye, Wren and Devlin:

 

Thanks so much for visiting with me and the Sasha gang.....I hope you've enjoyed seeing them all and hope you have a great 'rest of the week'!