My goal with transforming the Sasha Doll Style website is to create an interesting, informative, inspirational Sasha site, that I hope you will enjoy visiting and will bring me back the pleasure that I used to have with my beautiful Sasha Collection.
After a lot of thought, I have decided that I want to find the fun, pleasure and excitement that I used to have when I first started collecting the Sasha Dolls and joined Sasha Mart and Sasha-L. To enable this I have moved Sasha Doll Style to a WordPress website which will give me much more flexibility.
I’ll be writing blog posts about my inspiration behind the Sasha doll collections and how I plan and make the sets for the stories and other Sasha-related things that pique my interest.
I’m recreating the Sasha Stories and there will be a couple of new ones, as my 8-year-old niece recently pointed out to me, they have said coming soon for rather a long time now. So now, I am actually writing them!
One of my greatest pleasures was collecting the original Sasha doll outfits. Some came on dolls, others were bought from Shelly, and most were collected bit by bit as I spotted them on eBay. I’m creating a gallery for those.
I’ll create a gallery of all the unique and mainly one-of-a-kind, outfits and collections of clothes, that I made for the Sasha Dolls during the last decade.
I’ve refocused my Sasha Collection to a smaller core collection of my favourite Sashas, Gregors, babies and toddlers.
Over the years, virtually everything I made for the Sasha dolls was sold, and I only have a few outfits that I kept for my dolls. So I hope to make a few outfits for my dolls and will blog about these. I am looking forward to seeing my dolls looking beautiful.
The Reason for the Changes
Two years ago, on Easter Monday, a life-changing event occurred. It had been a wonderful Easter weekend, sunny, happy and filled with fun. Easter Monday was a hot day for an April day in Belfast. I had recently bought a set of extension tubes for the camera and wanted to try them out. So we packed a picnic and the camera and spent the morning and early afternoon in the fields at the top of the Cavehill photographing primroses and violets growing wild on the grassy bank and hedgerow near where we were relaxing with our novels and picnic.
On our return home, I received a phone call from my sister, who told me my brother Paul had drowned in an accident at the lake on his farm in Brittany. She asked me to tell mum. Some things in life haunt you forever.
This has been a strange two years, touched by deep sorrow and pain, by periods of overwork and times of lethargy, exhaustion and ill health.
But there have also been instances of love and laughter at my sister’s wedding and niece’s baptism, summers spent with my nieces, the complete re-organisation of our home so that we are fully utilising every space, and the gradual reclaiming of our garden.
Tiny magical moments helped me move forward, sitting on a rock on Cave Hill watching the peregrine falcon hovering high above us, seeing a real live wild badger on Easter Monday 2012, a fox crossing my path, watching a daddy long legs emerge from the ground in the transformation from its days in the dark underground eating roots to flight in the air – wriggling legs first.
Time spent sitting on the steps in my back garden late on moonlit nights listening to the hum of the sleeping city and the rustling woodland over the hedge.
The Question Was
Should I close Sasha Doll Style completely or not? I pondered over this question a lot during the last two years.
At the time, I “threw” myself back into the two collections that I had planned for Sasha Doll Style. When the collections were finished and put onto the website, I suddenly felt deflated. I kept intending to start the next collection. I had the sampling and swatching done. But I just couldn’t seem to get started. I don’t know when I will make outfits for Sasha dolls that will be for sale, but never say never.
My Decision
I decided that like that daddy long legs it was time for transformation to take place at Sasha Doll Style.
This is perfectly captured in the words of artist and illustrator Karen Davis in one of her beautiful paintings:
“Be Still and Listen. The Earth is Singing.”
Moonlight and Hares
And with that inspirational thought in mind, welcome back to Sasha Doll Style.
Hi: I normally don’t lurk much due to being too busy. I lost my mother in 20006 and in spite of my head telling me that it was the natural order of things I just did not predict the total complete emotional loss until much later. I just knew that my heart was empty. I then had professional issues at work which were also heart wrenching shortly after. I had to move out of my office and I put my Sasha display away. I used to put a display in a case in my lobby and my patients loved it. I had a hard time even thinking about the display. My mother loved my Sashas and even had a secret collection at home. My father would not allow her to play with them or display them and really did not even know that she had them. I bought all of them for her when I was in Medical School and they were $29 each. (I worked part time and saved just for her). She had so few pleasures in life that I could not resist buying them for her. Now 10 years later I realized that he (her husband/my father) was sucking the pleasure out of my life as well. I have an antique display case in my new lobby and I decided at Halloween that I would clean it out and put my Sashas out once again. My patients loved it. My staff loved it. Over Thanksgiving I changed it and put out a Christmas display. What fun and everyone loves it as well. I realize as I write this that my Sashas are my connection to my mother and I will continue to keep them out for others to enjoy as well. She loved my old displays and I certain that she would love my new display. I agree time to get back into the things that bring pleasure. Some are the simplest of things but still great pleasure. Glad to hear that you are back as well. Losing a brother must have been a shock. I am sorry for your loss. EH
Hello , I had wondered where you website had gone .For years I would look at all your dolls and the beautiful classical outfits they came in.
Then there was your hobby and the gorgeous clothes you knitted and sewed which I could never afford but loved to look anyway.
Today I found your website again and came to understand what had happened in your life and your need for change .
Please stay your new site is wonderful and I loved my visit .Thank you Mary Kearns ,Watford, Herts.
Dear Nikki,
When I was reading about your return to the Sasha world I was nearly crying. I don’t know if you remember me, but I was in the Sasha’s groups in the same time you were there and I was sending you some accessories for your little kitchen. I am living in Laval, Qc, Canada. I lost my husband one month ago and didn’t take my needles for a long time. When I was reading about your lost and your sadness, it gave me hope for the future. You were like balsam on my deep sadness and loneliness. I still have the little coat you made for my Sasha.
Happy return and I am so happy that you are back in the Sasha world.
Love,
Christine