Valentine fun at the Haggle and Gaggle

The Haggle & Gaggle was a new day long Sasha event in England, organised by Petrana and Theresa, it was local to us.

Laura (Dolls in Devon) came to stay with us the night before, then on the day I helped with transport from the station to the hall first collecting a famous Sasha doll shoe maker and her sister then later bringing my daughter, Laura and picking up two more Sasha collectors from the station on our way to the hall.

The theme for the day was a Valentine's party, and we were greeted with the amazing sight of a hot air balloon for Sasha (made by Theresa from a light shade and flowerpot covered with fabric, with a basket suspended below).  It looks like cupid was hard at work showering the party goers with love from above.

Cupid and the hot air balloon

Edmund being nice to his sister Louisa - he offered her a rose

Love hearts and letters in front of the kissing booth

All dressed for the party

Covered in kisses at the Kissing booth

Chocolate hearts and girls in their best party clothes

Feeling super cool with the ice creams

Bea the toddler

Laura's girl wearing the embroidered dress she finished sewing the previous evening and the babies (or Valentine bunny baby? and friend) having a picnic

Toddlers selling roses while the babies play

Lots more party guests

The toddlers and their roses

Chatting before eating the party food

Miranda in her pink hearts cardigan admired the party food

Florence, Laura and Reuben hoping for a hot air balloon ride - you never know, you might get lucky ...

Party guests in from around the world

At the Chat 'n Snap in October 2018 my raffle contribution was the promise to make a shweshwe outfit from a fabric combination of the winner's choice - Theresa had won that prize and chose 2 patterns of green shweshwe to go with plain green and red.  I finished sewing it and making the sandals on the Friday evening before the Haggle & Gaggle, my girl made the braids for the sandals with her new Kumihimo disc, she finished the second braid at the Haggle & Gaggle!

The newly completed Shweshwe dress for Theresa (red and green) which was promised in the Chat 'n Snap raffle (October 2018) and the turquoise version belonging to Laura

Lindiwe in her commissioned Shweshwe outfit meeting Melanie in her Shweshwe outfit

The four Shweshwe outfit colour combinations I've made so far

Baby Cupid radiating love with the Shweshwe girls

When the sales opened, my girl and I bought a pair of Rosie Bloom navy shoes and some underwear for our Sasha girls.

There were 2 raffles, first the international raffle - which meant that people who couldn't attend could buy tickets in advance and be included in the draw as well as those in the room on the day (it was live streamed by Alan so the non-attendees could join in the excitement of the draw).  The main prize was a Gotz Sasha doll with a superb selection of outfits by Petrana and it was won by an overseas person.  There were a couple of other prizes for the international raffle, then the main raffle was held, which also had a doll (a Trendon with 2 different wigs) and some lovely Petrana outfits.  We won some good prizes on the raffle.

Raffle prizes

Raffle prizes

Raffle prizes including the soft green lacy cardigan I had made

Raffle prizes

One of the good things about the day was seeing Henry with his new head of hair (with a beaming Lorraine who was delighted to be at her first Sasha event for 2 years).

Melanie, Henry and Lindiwe

Cupid and the other two Shweshwe girls

Petrana had organised the refreshments - her family and friends did an excellent job of running the kitchen and the food was delicious.

Lots of healthy options for lunch

A few people brought other dolls along (including some Little Darlings which I didn't photograph).  Peggy Sue and her Sindy friend were there, sharing time with Jocelyn's Sasha.

Peggy Sue, Sindy and Jocelyn's doll

The time went by so fast, before we knew it people were packing away sales tables and the display and saying their goodbyes.  Theresa decided to give the hot air balloon to my daughter (without the dolls!), we chatted with Lorraine and Jocelyn about the inspiration it gave us for our annual Sasha summer gathering...

Hot air balloon preparing to go to its next event

We had a super time meeting friends and making new friends at the Haggle & Gaggle.  Thank you to Petrana and Theresa for all your hard work getting this event 'off the ground'.