Chat n Snap 2019

The Pirates of the Carrot Bean display

This year the theme for the Chat 'n Snap was Pirates of the Carrot Bean (or Curried Bean or Jelly Bean), I think partly in honour of the antics of a certain Isle of Wight based pie-rat toddler called Capt Fred-Erik who has built up a fanbase in the Sasha Morgenthaler Facebook group.

We had very little time in our family to do anything special about costumes for the display as I've been too busy with other things (very little doll time in recent months), so on the Thursday evening we raided the doll clothing cupboard to see what piratical elements we could find among the extensive stash of clothes our Sasha family has built up since 2011. In the event, we had enough for 5 of our dolls to get dressed up. Laura and Louisa decided to be Amazon pirates from Swallows and Amazons (Nancy and Peggy), Trendon Elliott and Edmund found waistcoats which we turned inside out to show the red lining so they became pirates with their treasure chest (treasure included Hermoine's time turner and a Roman vase) and baby Davy was keen to play with the Jolly Roger boat in his piratical knitted swimsuit and a stripy cloth bandana.

Our 5 pirates along with Capt Fred-Erik and friends

Amazon Pirates (Peggy aka Louisa and Nancy aka Laura) with baby Davy and his Jolly Roger boat and Edmund the pirate boy

Baby Davy and his Jolly Roger boat

Peggy the Amazon pirate (Louisa)

Nancy the Amazon pirate (Laura)

Pirate boys Edmund and Trendon Elliott with their treasure chest

Laura H came from Devon to stay with us for the weekend and we also took Jocelyn to the Chat 'n Snap, each bearing pirates for the display.

My girl helped with setting up lots of pirates on the treasure island (made from two large fluffy yellow towels on a huge blue tarpaulin) on the stage, with Dee pointing out where she thought some of the pirates should be placed (some had been set up in the sea so had to be moved).  Few of the dolls had doll stands so it was tricky getting some of them balanced, but eventually she got them all standing. There was such a huge variety of pirates in the display, several ships and boats in the sea and even a shark which was eating a Sasha arm!

Pirates and shark!

Pirates and fishing boat

Fishing boat and a poor captured victim of pirates tied to the mast

Toddler and baby pirates perilously close to that shark

Captain Fred-Erik, Pirate Princess Wooby, Curly the Whiskey drinking baby and pirate friends

Dee announcing that the sales tables are open!

Shark! (that arm even had what looked like teeth marks) 

Pirate island including a lost boy/girl in pink wellies

Pirate boat crew

Dawn's pirates of the carrot bean - provisions for pirates!

Course dolls and their carrot treasure chest, along with the one legged pirate who sacrificed a leg to be in the display!

Pirates!

More pirates!

Laura H's pirate with his cutlass and blunderbuss made by Laura's husband

That poor victim tied to the mast, I hope she was rescued 

A very commanding looking pirate in her ship

The one legged pirate with his peg leg (he didn't get the message that pegging a clothes peg to his trousers was enough)

A very scary pirate with his scimitar, telescope and treasure

A fierce pirate 

The octopus taming pirate girl

The octopus tamer with Jocelyn's pirate standing beside the carrot bean cart

We also brought our SCW Charity Course doll, he sat in the other doll display with Davy and Sela (Laura's studio dolls) and Florence and Miranda, dressed in outfits they acquired at the Haggle & Gaggle in February.

Davy, Sela and our SCW Charity doll

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 1 

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 2

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 3

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 4 

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 5

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 6

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 7 

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 8

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 9 (including Florence and Miranda)

Miranda with a lovely Studio doll

Florence and Miranda in their Haggle & Gaggle skirts and tights

Visiting Sasha and Gregor dolls 10

The organising team of the 2020 SCW had a committee meeting in the chair storage room during the Chat 'n Snap (after sales tables had been open for a while and some people were eating lunch, before the Raffle).

The raffle had a huge variety of prizes and it was fun watching people's reactions as they won things. We won 4 prizes later on in the raffle.

First prize winner just before she collected her doll

Very happy with her first prize doll

Collecting a prize

Diane D had brought along her collection of 2 fake Sasha dolls (the Mexican dolls), plus some Gluck dolls and Frido dolls produced by the Frido factory in the 1960s before they started making Sasha.

Diane's 2 fake Sasha dolls

Rare Sasha Morgenthaler related books and some Gluck dolls

Gluck dolls

Frido dolls

Frido dolls

We chatted with several Sasha friends during the day (and my daughter crocheted her blanket, a relaxing thing to do in the midst of school exams).

Crocheting her blanket after lunch

All too soon it was time to pack up after a lovely day of chatting and snapping. Our boys were two of the last dolls to leave the treasure island.

Our pirate boys on the treasure Island

Thank you to Dee and all her helpers for another very enjoyable Chat 'n Snap.