Cleveland Asian Festival 2022

This past weekend was the annual Asian Festival, that was held in the part of Cleveland known as Asian Town. Mr. BTEG, the Dancer and I all visited it on Sunday. Mr. BTEG has been to Asian Town often before, as he used to go lunch there with some of his co-workers of Asian descent. The Dancer and I had never been before.

Of course, I always look for doll things. I was afraid that I wouldn't see anything this time, until we checked out the stores in the small Asian mall, that also had the restaurant where we ate lunch.

There was a store that carried Chinese style dresses for American Girl and Wellie Wishers dolls. They also had a variety of little porcelain Chinese style tea sets. I didn't buy anything, but of course, the shop will be there while the Festival booths won't.

I did buy a pair of Hello Kitty earrings.

There were some performances from local organizations. We only managed to catch several acts from Hawaiian dancers

and some dancers from a school that teaches "Bollywood style."

I'm glad that I caught the girl dressed in Chinese style clothes in the picture. I saw her around the festival all day. Very few other people were dressed in traditional Asian styles, but I did see one woman wearing tabi (Japanese split-toe socks) with geta (wooden shoes with two wooden supports underneath.) I had to wonder how uncomfortable she was, because it had poured rain the night before, and had rained a little that morning, so there were puddles, and also some muddy spots. Sure, the geta kept her feet off the ground, but I don't know if the tabi got wet.

There was an enormous outdoor food court set up for the festival, but the lines for food stretched all the way down the food court, so we went into the mall to have lunch in the permanent restaurant there. We had to wait for a table there, but it was probably actually less time than the food court, with the advantage of sitting down! Mr. BTEG has eaten there before, although he prefers a little hole-in-the-wall dim sum restaurant in the area, but that was too far for tired people to walk.

Unlike a lot of American restaurants that have coffee carafes and coffee cups on the table, this restaurant of course had a tea pot full of hot tea, and traditional tea cups. Mr. BTEG and the Dancer drank some.

I had sweet and sour chicken, which I was just able to pick up using chopsticks. Meanwhile, the Dancer easily ate rice with her chopsticks. I was jealous, but she's been to Chinese restaurants a lot more often than I have. (Admission: I don't like Asian food. I like sweet and sour chicken without the sweet and sour sauce, though; it's just chicken fried in tempura batter.)

Spring ushers in a long season of fairs and festivals here, which doesn't end until after Halloween. Maybe we'll get out to more this year, now that they're back. And of course, I'll always be on the hunt for doll things! Do you like to go to festivals like these?

More OG Lori products, plus an outfit review. Also a brief appearance by mini Kirsten Larson

Mr. BTEG and I were hanging out together in another part of town, when he mentioned that he wanted to go to Target. What a coincidence, because I wanted to go to Target as well, to look for more OG Lori stuff! I did indeed find some new things, so I have so more pictures for you. There doesn't seem to be much out there about this line yet.

A doll with dark skin, and black hair in a bun, plus a girl with Asian features. And yet another dance outfit, bringing the total up to three dolls in dance outfits, that I have seen. I'm looking forward to seeing what the ballet studio will look like. That green furry skirt, though!

 A classic peacoat look here, done in red. Plus a dog to take for walks.

I think both of these dolls have made appearances elsewhere on the internet, but they were in the store, so I took a picture. The neck joint of the doll on the left looks odd. Also, her name is Lori. Brown-eyed blonds, like the one on the right, seem popular with collectors.

 This doll was pictured yesterday, but I got a better picture today. I love the ruffled trim on her skirt.

I also got better pictures of the individual outfits, and I have a better feel for why I don't quite like them. The fabric of the animal coat, plus the fur trim, just looks cheap. Also, I don't get the blue purse with this outfit. There's some sort of headband that goes with this outfit, but I don't know what it's supposed to be.

With this outfit, it's not just that the fur trim on the boots is plastic; it's also that the white especially stands out when everything else in the outfit is cream. The trim being plastic just makes it look worse, in my opinion, making it stand out even more. The rest of the outfit has good casual pieces, though.

Everybody seems to love the camper. I like it myself. So I took the time to open the little camper door this time, and take a picture with the light turned on. It is over the kitchen unit, but you could use it for a little bedtime reading, as well, while listening to the music of the crickets and frogs. The light makes the camper look extra cozy. On the down side, the pillows on the bed look thin, and the blankets won't cover a doll well.

 Outfit review plus mini Kirsten pictures below the fold.

Life Gets in the Way, Plus an Online Garage Sale

Since I didn't want to use my daughters' real names online, I christened my youngest as the Dancer. She started ballet at age six and now takes ballet, pointe, jazz, tap and contemporary, so the name is very appropriate. Her dance recital is coming up, and as usual a lot of the costumes, ordered from national dance wear manufacturers, need alterations. This year, there were six bodices that needed altering for girls in the pointe class that the Dancer takes, including the Dancer's bodice. The dance teacher found out several years ago that I sew, so I've done a lot of little things here and there for her on recital costumes. This year, since altering six strapless bodices, that are mostly lined with some kind of foam, was such a big project, I am doing it at home, and she is taking money off the Dancer's tuition fees in exchange for my work. Which is wonderful, but has taken up time I would probably use for doll sewing. I've finished the last bodice, I hope, but yesterday I found out I need to alter the arm and leg length on a small boy's jumpsuit. Another mom also asked for help with one of her daughter's costumes. The seamstress they hired for another costume, didn't want to tackle this one. So only a little more to go, and I can go back to sewing personal stuff.

My daughters are getting rid of all their Barbie dolls and related toys. Reading a lot of your blogs, I've noticed that many of you enjoy picking up doll things at thrift shops. I was considering taking pictures and making a post of all the stuff my daughters don't want, and seeing if there are any takers. I would have to put stuff up a little at a time, I think. I don't have any super great stuff, but it's not any worse than things you find in a thrift store. I would charge a buck or two for most of the things, plus shipping. Let me know if you might possibly be interested. I'm probably going to start that soon.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well! I'm finally able to sit down at the computer and get out this post. And not because I was out drinking green beer, either! I was finishing up Sophie's dress.

She is currently the only doll I own from Tonner's 10" Ann Estelle line. The dress pattern is one of the few patterns right now that I can make up without too much trouble, so I chose it for this day. I'm going to be concentrating now on spring clothes for all my dolls. Maybe something for a J-Doll next.

Irish themed clothes, especially dresses for Irish step dance, are very popular among doll manufacturers. Among other things, Tonner made Irish Lass a part of his Kripplebush Kids line for two years.

Photo by Diane Drummond from Tonner catalog

Around that time, Tonner also put out an Irish dancer in his Betsy McCall line. A picture of that doll can be seen on this Pinterest page, along with a great many other photographs of Irish dance dolls. American Girl not only produced Irish dance wear for the 18" doll, one of the dolls in the smaller Girls of Many Lands line was an Irish dancer as well. In her book we learn something about the early history of modern Irish dance.

Not only did Tonner produce dancing dolls, in 2006 we saw Irish Incantation Tyler, in a beautiful golden gown. Here are some photos of the doll, although not the gown.

Another Tonner doll that did not have an Irish theme but certainly looks very Irish is the doll currently gracing my blog header, Elegance Sydney from 2003. She was a basic doll and came wearing a pale green teddy and matching shoes. Here is another picture of her, wearing a dress and bracelet from Franklin Mint's Princess Diana.

Urgh. Video I wanted to put here is not working from either Blogger or YouTube. I'll try tomorrow. It's already way late for this.

Calico Critter's Britney's Ballet Recital

Although neither of my daughters collects dolls as I do, my youngest still does appreciate little sets that go with some of the toys she has received over the years. One of her most cherished toy sets is her Calico Critters collection. She has a house, a family, some furniture and a Christmas set. When I wandered into a small store that carries Calico Critters and saw this set, I knew I had to get it for my daughter. Her Calico Critters family is the Cottontail Rabbit family (because she loves bunnies) and as I mentioned previously she loves her ballet classes. Which is why her name on my blog is the Dancer. This was one of her Christmas presents.

Anyway, back to this set. It is called Britney's Ballet Recital.

Although the box tells you to create your very own story, the story that I found online with this set says that Britney has been practicing hard for a year for the big recital. (Presumably she used the mirror and the barre in her practice.) Now that the day is coming up, she can't decide what dress to wear!

The dresses are identical, except for color, but of course color is very important! The Dancer has kept her bunny in the original dress, and Britney is currently posing on the Dancer's desk, since her other Calico Critters items are packed away.

The main problem I have with this set is that the barre is just not the right proportion to our bunny ballerina. Surprisingly, it's far too tall, instead of being too short. There's also the fact that Britney's paws won't really hold the barre, but that's not a big issue for me. If the barre was the right height, she could just rest her paw on the top anyway.

Imagine how funny a rabbits big hind paws would look in pointe shoes!

Thoughts on American Girl Isabelle

Honestly, I think the ballet idea for Girl of the Year is great. My youngest daughter studies several kinds of dance, but a lot of what she does is helped by a good foundation in ballet. She's been studying ballet the longest, and she's been doing pointe for almost a year now as well. She also does conditioning work once a week and has even started using Pilates bands like Isabelle does, although my daughter uses them with her legs, not her arms. If my daughter was younger, she would probably want all or most of this set. Sadly for me, my daughter still cherishes her dolls, but has outgrown wanting to own any more, or collect more pieces.

The one thing that I dislike the most about Isabelle's collection is the name of her dance academy on her exercise mat, her barre, and even her sewing cupboard. Is that strange? To me, that ties all these pieces to Isabelle's story, instead of being something that a girl (or adult) can relate to a story of her own making.

I'm not sure why people can't picture Isabelle the doll using her ballet barre. She is pictured in a pose with one leg up on the front page of the AG website, as one of the rotating pictures. She could also do tendu, and kicks, and rond de jambe, and possibly even grand port de bras a la ronde. To me, the bigger problem is that she can't point her toes, more than that she has no elbow or knee joints. There are times when my daughter's arms and legs are very stiff, but those toes had better be pointed!

Days Flying By

Here I am starting up a new blog, and I've been too busy lately to do much of anything. My eldest daughter is in her senior year of high school, and consequently her last marching band season. She has practice three days a week and the football game Friday nights. Sometimes she also has marching band events on Saturdays. I'm trying to go to every football game and every event. I'll miss marching band. It's been a fun four years.

My youngest daughter is back into her dance routine. She is involved in seven dance classes a week, including pointe. It's great to see her body getting so strong.

Both of my daughters are going to the homecoming dance next Saturday. The theme this year is The Great Gatsby. The three of us have had fun picking out 20's style accessories, but that does take up time. I am also sewing The Dancer's dress, so that's more time. I'm hoping it will turn out well, though.

I have been doing a little bit of doll stuff, mostly sewing. And at the moment I don't have much to show for it. :(  I'll have to keep working this week, and hopefully get some pictures up soon at any rate.

American Girl doll color guard uniform

It's been crazy around here lately. My oldest daughter, the Musician, had marching band camp all week. My youngest daughter, the Dancer, had a private pointe lesson. The girls were both involved in social events before school starts. I was sick all week, and to top it off, we only have one car in the family, which can make running around an issue. So here is a uniform I made for the friend of the Dancer, for the friend's birthday. Said friend has wanted to join the high school color guard since about sixth grade, so I made this uniform a couple of years ago. This year, friend is finally in high school and color guard! My daughter's AG Girl of Today agreed to model before we wrapped the uniform up.

It was a bit of a challenge making the flag look proportional, but I was happy with it in the end. The Dancer's friend was very happy with it as well.

Some American Girl Accessories

When the Toy Box Philospher visited an American Girl store recently, she admired the play violin, but the block of rosin was missing. I decided to take pictures of the violin we bought for the Dancer's AG doll, and include that item. As I commented at TBP's blog, AG accessories are often more expensive, but the quality and details are often better as well. In this case, the violin included several items that I found with no other off-brand set: a music stand, a doll-size book of Christmas music, and the rosin.

Here's a picture of the violin in the case. It is a very nice-looking set.

Here is where the rosin rests in the case. In the picture that TBP took at the store, the rosin is definitely missing.

And here's the rosin out of the case. A very nice little detail to make the set more special.

Here's the book of sheet music that came with the set. As you can see, this is nicely realistic, although the Dancer has never tried to play any of this. Of course, when she first got the set, she was a very beginning violinist and reading sheet music like this for herself was probably beyond her abilities at the time.

Another example of the difference between AG merchandise and others, for some reason, is the tap shoes. When I looked for tap shoes for her doll, all the other tap shoes on the market had pointed toes. In real life, all the tap shoes with pointed toes that I have seen, in several years of buying tap shoes, are generally lower quality than the ones with rounded toes. So I ended up with the AG ones again, just because I thought they looked nicer to my eye, and more like what the Dancer wears herself. These originally came with a dance costume for AG Girl of the Year Marisol; I was able to buy just the shoes on eBay. The pink bows on the shoes were not a big deal, especially since the Dancer had pink bows sewn onto her own shoes for a recital costume almost four years ago now.

There were lots of excited squeals the first time those sparkly canes came out for practice.

AG Molly's Miss Victory costume also includes tap shoes, with metal taps as opposed to plastic. Molly's line is being "moved to the archives" for now, but I'm sure her merchandise will live on at eBay.