Doll Show - Strongsville, Ohio - February 27th, 2022

I wouldn't have even known about this doll show, if Tam hadn't emailed me and asked me if I was going. It took place in the same location as the show from last year's post. (I did some posts after that one, showing everything* that I bought at that show.) I wasn't aware that there are doll shows held here twice a year, and not just once. Tam has already put up her post about the show. I was going to work on mine yesterday, but that morning Mr. BTEG got a text from his sister, saying that she and her husband were at the community college only about 15 minutes from our house, to watch their daughter playing volleyball with her travel team. So Mr. BTEG, the Dancer, and I spent the day with my in-laws, ending up down at the lake. There's only a little bit of ice left from the winter.

I didn't take as many pictures at the show as Tam did, but at least mine are all of different things than hers. :)

This is a knock-off Sunshine Family set of three dolls. I didn't know Sunshine Family knock-offs existed until I saw these three.

I felt sorry for the boxed doll on the left. Buy some canned air and get some of that dust off of her! That doll on the right is throwing her some serious side eye.

 

I liked the way the seller had these Japanese dolls arranged on the red steps. It reminded me of the way dolls are displayed for the Japanese doll festival Hinamatsuri, although none of these dolls looked right for the actual festival set-up.

A blast from the past with Pinkie Cooper dolls, plus a Disney Descendants, Monster High, Skipper with tan lines, and what looks like a Miss Revlon doll.

A beautiful Kitty Collier doll in the vinyl. This was probably my favorite Kitty ever produced.

Somebody didn't like Ken's man bun, but then didn't know what to do with him. There were lots and lots of 90s-to-modern Barbie dolls in boxes.

Some My Twinn dolls. I think that's a Tiffany Taylor from the 70s standing behind them.

I loved this felt Lenci doll's felt dress, even though it looks super heavy and thick. I'm not sure if Gene Simmons is showing his approval of the dress, or making a rude gesture. To the right, you can see the Blythe doll Tam showed in her post.

I was interested in the Rub-a-Dub dolly in box, because I had one of my own as a child. Actually, I still do have mine somewhere.

Mine is not in the box, and I don't know if she comes with all of her accessories. She has her hooded towel, and I think her diaper on underneath. My mom made her a flannel bathrobe. I never had the floating vanity and shower.

These dolls are genuine Mattel dolls that use the Sunshine Family Steffie face mold and body for a series of "patriotic" dolls from around 1976.

I loved this group of antique dollhouses, horse stable, and toy fort that I saw all at one table. The first house in this group is marked Gottschalk, which I guessed. I follow someone's blog who collects these older dollhouses, but she hasn't posted in a very long time, and I have forgotten the blog title. Anyway, my thought is that these are all Gottschalk, because they all look similar, except maybe the fort. A couple of the houses also look similar to Gottschalk houses I saw when I was trying to find the blog I'm thinking of.

Lastly are these two pretty Schoenhut girls.

Of course Tam and I had to get a selfie. I could barely see my phone screen because the sun was so blinding.

Tam was kind enough to gift me these three Ever After High dolls, of which I couldn't get a non-blurry picture. There is an Apple White in her original dress and bracelet, an Epic Winter Rosabella Beauty wearing what I think is a Disney Descendants dress, and a nude Cerise Hood. These three are going with the other EAH dolls that I want to customize or re-dress.

I got this Liv Sophie doll for only $2. I have two other Liv dolls, but I'm not sure that I'm going to keep my Liv dolls intact. That's a topic for another blog post, I think. In any case, $2 is a super price just for the clothes, shoes and jewelry.

 

I got this When I Read, I Dream Heidi doll for only $5. She has the same body as the original Barbie's little sister Stacie.

And saving the best for last, is this beautiful reproduction Jumeau doll, with a compo 10.5" body, made by Sylvia Butler. Her slip was made by me. She will be the feature of my next post.

*So I still have a few things from the last doll show that I haven't shown you yet. The main reason is because the vintage Skipper dress that I bought had a slight stain, that I was aware of when I bought the dress. I tried to get the stain out with a couple of things, and then I got busy and distracted by other stuff and moved on from the dress, and you know how it goes. I would like to show the last few things from last doll show soon, even if I can't get the stain out.

You've probably noticed that I've added ads to my blog. I think I have too many, and I'd appreciate some advice on how to place them, so there are fewer, because most blogs I see don't have ads in all the places I'm getting them. If they are taking away too much from your enjoyment of the blog, I'd like to know that, too.

October Instagram Challenge Day 3: Candy

When my sisters and I went trick-or-treating, the first thing we would do when we got home was dump all of our candy on the floor and sort it out. I don't remember us doing a lot of trading, although I've never liked chewing gum, so I'm sure I gave that away. But having our two girls above dump out all of their candy would have involved me making up a lot more miniature candy than I wanted to, so these two youngsters are already digging through their bags and trying to make trades. Fiona, the redhead, is wearing Mini American Girl Felicity's dress, and the brunette, who needs a name, is wearing Mini American Girl Kirsten's dress. I made the orange bag, and the cloth bag, which is supposed to be a pillowcase. Mr. BTEG and his sisters always took pillowcases trick-or-treating, and I remember him saying that they would fill multiple pillowcases. Those were glorious times, when we kids were old enough to go trick-or-treating by ourselves. My sisters and I didn't fill up pillowcases, but it was fun running around the neighborhood after dark, trying to hit as many houses as possible. We made sure our daughters had fun Halloweens too.

October Instagram Challenge Day 1: Leaves

Since I'm taking part in a doll-related Instagram challenge, I thought I might as well share the pictures here as well. Also here, we can chat about them!

The grass that Stacie is lying on, is plastic turf that I bought at a craft store. I can't believe how nice it looks in the photo.

Did you get to play in the leaves when you were a kid? We had several large trees in my front and back yards when I was a kid, so leaf raking was a way of life every year. I'm old enough to remember burning leaves and yard waste in a big metal barrel with holes in the sides, too.

Happy Easter

It's been another odd holiday for us. Mr. BTEG is recovering from the flu, and I still have a bit of a cold, so we stayed quietly here at home. Fortunately, our daughters got to spend time outside the house, with other family. I'm a little down, but it will pass.

I'm in the process of reorganizing my part of our family craft/hobby room, so I didn't have a lot of space to get a picture set up. Heidi from When I Read I Dream looks cute in this quick pic I set up.

A blessed Easter to all of you who celebrated this holy day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The family is all set for Thanksgiving! Mollie tells her daughter Gwen how proud she is for doing such a good job helping Mom make dinner.

The mixer is currently available at World Market/Cost Plus. I'm afraid it may be a bit too big.

ETA:  I went to Target yesterday (don't worry, it was well after all the frenzied Black Friday shopping.) And what did I happen to see, but this:

It's even the same color! As Rachael said, that color is very fashionable right now. This was the biggest version. As you can see, there was a smaller version next to it, and then there was a still smaller version past that. I also took a picture with my hand in it, to get an idea of scale. Since I'm so short, and that shelf was high, this was the closest I could get to the mixer. :)

So I guess my mixer really isn't too large after all! Thanks to all of you who gave me encouragement about it.

International Cat Day

This morning I found out, via Simon's Cat, that today was International Cat Day! How wonderful that it takes place on Caturday! It is a day to promote feline health and welfare. I couldn't pass this day by, especially as more doll people seem to post pictures of dogs. Cats need (more than) their share of attention, too!

Our featured cat was originally a member of the Sunshine Family. I got rid of most of my Sunshine Family stuff, since it wasn't a good size match for anything else. However I did keep the cat and dog, although poor doggie has an eye missing.

Here Fern pets our orange kitty. She likes more animals than just pigs. :)

The only other two doll sized cats that I own (I think) are these two, whom I got as a table favor at a Gene doll dinner. They make good not-quite-grown-up kittens for the Sunshine Family cat, especially the orange one.

If you are a cat lover and have not watched the Simon's Cat cartoon videos, you need to start now. Here is the first, Cat Man Do.

In Which I Review a Lottie Outfit and Lottie's Horse, Without Owning a Lottie Doll

When I ordered my Madame Alexander Travel Friend dolls from zulily, there were also some Lottie items available. I didn't really want to be ordering yet another small doll at the same time I ordered the MA dolls, and the MA ones seemed more appealing to me. However, I thought the pony might work with dolls that I already have, and I ordered an outfit because, why not? I chose the blue velvet party dress.

Wow, that Lottie is a small girl! Would you like to see what doll I found that could wear her outfit?

J-Doll in Another Stacie Outfit

Still working on a J-Doll pattern! The biggest issue I'm having is with the sleeves. The biggest issue I have is usually always the sleeves. However, I suspect I'm not alone in this judging by the number of seamstresses I see who either make things that don't have sleeves, or make the bodice and the sleeve all one piece. That's not the look for what I want, so my war with sleeves continues.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of my J-Doll Adelheid wearing another Stacie size dress from the When I Read, I Dream series. This one belonged to young Jo March. It's not particularly period correct, but it's a cute dress, and again, it fits Adelheid like a dream. Only the bottom snap will just barely not stay closed.

It was gray and raining when I took these pictures, and just when I sat down at my computer to upload these, the sun came out. Isn't that just the way it works?

Doll Dressing

Since I'm going to be selling off J-Doll Spitalgrasse's outfit, the doll is in need of new clothes. Momoko clothes are adorable, but way too rich for my budget. I don't see too many individual outfits being offered for other dolls, like Pullip, and the prices there can get high too. I'm going to keep looking, but since I can sew doll clothes, why not make my own?

I suspected that Fern's outfit would fit Adelheid (J-Doll's new name) and it does. Fern is one of four dolls Mattel made in its When I Read, I Dream series. She has the older Stacie body. Fern is the main human character in the classic book Charlotte's Web, and she comes dressed in a red and white checked shirt and denim overalls skirt, suitable for sitting around a pig pen, except perhaps for the skirt.

While I guessed that the outfit would fit, what surprised me was how much it makes Adelheid's eyes pop. She looks fantastic in it, a perfect country girl or farmer's daughter. Given the height difference between Fern and Adelheid, the skirt is way too short and the waist of the overalls also comes up too high on Adelheid's body. But I had to take a few shots of her shoulders and head so you could see how great this looks.

My daughters both had their own Fern doll, but were never particularly attached to them. I will probably take one of the other Fern's shirts apart and use it to help me make outfits for Adelheid and her J-Doll sisters. I hope to get to it soon. I'm feeling better, but still tire easily and have occasional pain. Overall I'm doing fine, considering.