Trudi, my beautiful C1 Sasha Studio doll, wishes everyone a Happy Christmas. She is wearing a new dress I have knitted for her in off white 2 ply Jamieson & Smith wool (from the Shetland Islands), the pattern was designed for a First Love baby doll (I knitted it about 40 years ago) however I've made the bodice and skirt longer, plus I made the sleeves with slightly more room than skin tight. I finished the dress on Christmas Eve while watching Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings College Cambridge on TV, with my family. Trudi admires the Christmas tree Side view of Trudi in h ..read more

The Sasha doll groups on Facebook are celebrating 130 years since artist and doll maker Sasha Morgenthaler was born on 30 November 1893 in Switzerland, by sharing photos of our Sasha dolls with each other. I have photographed a group of our Sasha dolls to celebrate the artistry of Sasha's dolls. There is a nod to her inspiration for the dolls in the form of Trendon Elliott wearing his evacuee outfit which I made for the recent Chat 'n Snap display, as Sasha was greatly moved by the World War II refugees who arrived in Switzerland and subsequently designed the various Sasha doll faces to be qui ..read more

A poignant theme of 1940s Evacuees was Dee's choice for the Chat 'n Snap this year. This was very topical in the light of wars happening around the world currently and fitting considering that Sasha Morgenthaler had been moved by the sight of refugee children arriving in Switzerland during World War II which subsequently influenced the Sasha doll face designs.  Dee and her husband Paul created an incredible backdrop for a fictional St Ippolyts railway station (the nearest railway stations are Stevenage and Hitchin, there never was a branch line to the village of St Ippolyts) with young ev ..read more

Inspired by our roadtrip in the Argyll region of Scotland during August with Laura and Nicholas James, I decided that the sleeveless sweater my 'evacuee' for the Chat 'n Snap needed to use the 200 year old Argyll diamond pattern, rather than be plain grey, which had been my original plan. The Chat 'n Snap is being held in Hertfordshire, England. Last year when attending the Sasha Festival in Syracuse, I bought all three knitting and sewing books from the Marcy Street Doll company which had been reprinted in time for the festival. In the 'Seventeen Knitting Patterns From Marcy Street Doll Compa ..read more

Inspired by our roadtrip in the Argyll region of Scotland during August with Laura and Nicholas James, I decided that the sleeveless sweater my 'evacuee' for the Chat 'n Snap needed to use the 200 year old Argyll diamond pattern, rather than be plain grey, which had been my original plan. The Chat 'n Snap is being held in Hertfordshire, England. Last year when attending the Sasha Festival in Syracuse, I bought all three knitting and sewing books from the Marcy Street Doll company which had been reprinted in time for the festival. In the 'Seventeen Knitting Patterns From Marcy Street Doll Compa ..read more

Laura and Nicholas James drove from Cawdor Castle late on the Saturday afternoon through rather miserable weather in the Cairngorms to a remote cottage in the hills above Pitlochry and Killiecrankie. The following day they went to Killiecrankie to see where a Redcoat soldier had leapt from one side of the river to the other as he tried to escape the Jacobites in the Battle of Killiecrankie. The river Garry runs through a wooded, rocky gorge, and they decided it must have been really tricky to fight a battle in this area. It was a beautiful place for a woodland walk. The river Garry at Ki ..read more

 After leaving Glencoe, Laura and Nicholas James continued on the final part of the Argyll Coastal route to Fort William, then delved into the Ben Nevis valley to find the Ben Nevis caravan and camping site. They had booked a camping pod for the night, quite a contrast from the Ballachulish Hotel which they had just left. The camping pod looked like an armadillo.  It was a beautiful sunny late afternoon when they arrived at their camping pod so they admired the view of Ben Nevis from the picnic table, with Heilan Coo. "Wow, look at Ben Nevis" cried Laura. "How lucky the clouds ..read more

After leaving Oban, Laura and Nicholas James continued on the Argyll Coastal route to see a Castle on an island. Castle Stalker featured as The Castle Aaaaarrrrrrgghhh at the very end of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was necessary to walk down the hill from the Castle Stalker View cafe through a small wood see see the Castle more closely. Castle Stalker View information board Laura and Nicholas James could see Castle Stalker from a nearby field Laura and Nicholas James wished they could cross to the castle, but it was surrounded by water and is private ..read more

On the Tuesday morning of their Scottish roadtrip, Laura and Nicholas James left Inveraray and visited Auchindrain Historic Village. This was a village which by virtue of its geographic location and circumstance hadn't been deserted during waves of highland clearances and was inhabited until 1967. Some of the houses were furnished and showed the evolution of their building (many had been thatched with local heather and other plants until corrogated iron roofing replaced the thatch).  Laura and Nicholas James were given an interactive guide on a tablet which explained all about each buildi ..read more

Laura and Nicholas James were going on an adventure. They went on a long drive all the way to Scotland to explore some interesting places. Crossing the border into Scotland The first night of their trip after the long car journey was at a small hotel in Dumbarton near Glasgow, where they watched the BBC proms on TV once Laura had her hair done by my daughter who wanted to give her a practical style that would hold up through all the adventures. Laura has her hair styled by Dmd in the first hotel room Nicholas James and Laura watch the BBC proms in the hotel room The ..read more