Hinamatsuri

This post is coming a day late, but yesterday was Hinamatsuri, or Girl's Day, in Japan. An important part of the festival is a display of dolls and doll-sized accessories. The emperor and empress sit at the top of any Hinamatsuri doll set. I bought the set above from Re-ment. I had a hard time putting everything together, and tried to use poster stickies to help keep stuff in place. It wasn't until I looked at the pictures that I realized that the emperor and his wife were tipping slightly as a result. Oh well. I still think it turned out cute. I saw that Re-ment also makes a Hello Kitty themed Hinamatsuri set. I've seen Peanuts themed ones as well.

I sewed the dress that our little Japanese girl is wearing. The hardest part was sewing the sleeves. I think I would sew them first next time, before I sewed the sides of the dress.

Tonner Strawberry Cupcake Mimi and Fall Flowers Lilah Dolls

Since the last time I posted about my Tonner 10", or "tenner," line, I've acquired two new dolls. The first is named Strawberry Cupcake Mimi, not to be confused with the more recent release, Strawberry Cupcake Patsy. The second doll is Ann Estelle's baby sister, Lilah. She's 9" according to Tonner's website. I wanted to get a Mimi and a Babette from the Petite Filles line for my tenner collection; there were only a few styles of each doll produced, and the faces are unique, except for a couple of dolls made in Dr. Seuss styles for a Tonner convention. And of course the convention ones are even rarer.

Mimi's hair is wonky, in that her curls on each side don't really match.

Mimi's body is a mix between the old and new 10" dolls. Her arms are the same as Ann Estelle.

Her knees bend like those in the new Patsy doll line.

Her pantaloons have some faint brownish stains on the legs. I'll try soaking them in Biz detergent.

She has a flaw in the inside corner of her right eye.

Here Mimi is with two of her 10" friends, from the Mary Englebreit and Patsy lines. They each have very unique faces. Sophie's face is also different from Ann Estelle's, but I didn't want to mess around with that many dolls in the picture just then. I'll take a picture of the whole gang sometime.

Lilah dolls are relatively hard to find as well. From what I found, there were only three different Lilah dolls produced, and one of those was also a convention doll, and came riding a large seahorse at that, so her value is much higher. I got my Lilah at just above original retail price, however, so it seems she is not hot in the doll market right now. I still like her. :)

Lilah is described by Tonner as being in a seated leg position. I guess that means she's not old enough to stand up on her own yet. I did stand her up for a couple of pictures, but she doesn't really stand well.

Ann likes being a big sister.

I think the onesie would have been cuter with sleeves.

However, the dress underneath the sweater does not have sleeves. The dress is cute, but there is one flaw. In the bottom right of the picture below, you can see a black thread in between the two layers of bodice fabric. At some point I may try to take the dress apart at the waist to get in and get that thread out. It's not like I have to worry too much about ruining the dress; it's unwearable by itself in this state.

There's also something rattling somewhere in Lilah's body. I may try to get her head off at some point and investigate that.

There are more faces I would like to get for my 10" collection, but I'm not on eBay nearly as much as I used to be, so that might be an issue. I'll talk about the eBay thing sometime soon. In the meantime, I'm glad I expanded my collection of little girls.

AG Place Chicago -- 2005

I've been keeping up with everyone else's blogs, but I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted here. I definitely don't intend for *that* to be a steady thing, but I've been incredibly busy. On June 7th, my eldest daughter graduated from high school. This past weekend was my eldest daughter's graduation party, and my youngest daughter's dance recital. The weather was fantastic for all three events, and family and friends had a great time. But now that all that planning and preparation is over, I'm so ready to get back to normal life!

Since it will take me maybe a few days to set up some doll dioramas for pictures, I'm putting up a picture of my daughters and I at American Girl place in Chicago, from November of 2005. Although AG dolls are a great deal more expensive than some of their competitors, there are advantages to owning them, even if you get yours from a thrift shop, Craigslist or eBay. One of those advantages is American Girl Place. Mr. BTEG worked in Chicago for seven months from 2005 into 2006. Often, he flew or drove home for the weekend to see his girls, but since I was homeschooling at the time, I also could pack up the three of us and drive out to Chicago to spend a week with him. Since we were out there several times, we were able to visit AG Place more than once, and so were able to do several of the activities there, like eating at the restaurant, that would have been cost prohibitive to do all in one trip.

This picture is from the day we had lunch at the restaurant. I didn't bring my own AG doll, Samantha, but the girls had their own dolls with them. At the time, the Musician had her Bitty Baby, and her Just Like Me doll. The Dancer had her Bitty Baby with her, who is hidden behind her at the table. You can see one of Bitty Baby's chubby fists if you look.

My girls are not doll collectors at the moment, although they have kept their AG dolls, and the dolls were never colored on, nor did the 18" dolls have their hair cut. I'm hoping that I'll have granddaughters someday who will once again enjoy these dolls.