USA 2017 - Sasha festival part 7

All the Dress a Sasha entries were very good. They each interpreted the theme of 'Forever Young - games and pass times' in a unique way. However because it was a competition, there were no names on the entries. I have already given details of two entries - mine and my daughter's entry, so this post is all about the others. 

When we entered the room we registered our entry with Norvell at the door who gave us each a plastic pot with a slot in the top and with our number on the side (the numbers were the order we arrived in the room) and wrote down which category we were entering - made and assembled by or assembled by, followed by the age group.  Assembled meant that the person did not have to make the outfits themselves, they could use outfits from a variety of makers if they wished.  Made by meant they had to do all the knitting and sewing themselves, though shoes and socks by others were allowed.  Props are allowed and each display has to fit in a space no more than 18 inches by 18 inches.  Many people provide a card giving a bit more information about their entry.

I set up my entry beside that of Peggy L who was in the other category.  Therefore, in this post I'll show all the 'assembled by adult' entries first.

Assembled by adult

Peggy (number 6) assembled a wonderful pass time - painting a picture and had chosen an artist inspired sweater (knitted by Diane D) for her dark haired artist to wear.  Her note about the display explains:

"Simone's studio - Simone is an art student living in Greenwich village NYC in the 1960s.  She's mad about Bob Dylan and even madder about Vincent van Gogh her favourite artist.  Her younger sister has come from school, dropped her bags, changed and is her older sister's model.  She will remain forever young in her sister's painting.  Afterwards, her sister will treat her to some Dylan!"

Simone's Studio - Dress a Sasha entry by Peggy L, assembled by entrant

Card about Simone's studio

Simone paints her younger sister

Doris G (number 3) chose to depict what can happen when playing a game a little too enthusiastically - poor Donny's mishap!

Her card explained:

"Donny was a little too anxious to impress his friends.  His friends showed their concern and sympathy instead of laughing at him."

The photos showed the lead up to Donny's accident as he was doing tricks on his skateboard.  I'm glad his friends were kind to him about it.

Donny falls after doing tricks on his skateboard,
his friends baby and Cora ask if he is okay

The card explaining Donny's accident while playing

The lead up to the disaster for Donny

Donny's accident

Beth W (number 4) had chosen to depict the collection of delicious blueberries, bringing up memories of summer days in the countryside.

Her card explained:

Summer Pass-times: Summers in Maine.

For several summers in my childhood, my family travelled to Maine for vacation. I have such fond memories of picking blueberries, hiking, searching for treasure on the beach with my mother, and trying my first bite of lobster. I am so thankful that my generous parents have allowed me to continue these traditions with my children, inviting us vacation with them in Maine for the past two summers.  Last year we visited Blueberry Hill, as depicted in the children's book Blueberries for Sal.  This was my inspiration for the Dress a Sasha contest this year, and the photographs in the background were taken during that visit. I would like to extend a special thank you to my seamstress friend, who created these lovely outfits for Sasha and is sorely missed at the festival this year!

Picking blueberries

Beth's card explaining about picking blueberries in Maine

An extract from Little Sal

Proudly holding a bucket full of blueberries

This bucket of blueberries was obviously too heavy to carry anymore!

Mary's joyous Baby Band

Recorders, xylophone and babies

I'm glad to see the Hedgehog has the free ear plugs as he beats the drum

Even a music stand

Keeping Forever Young with the Baby Band

Cheryl M (number 9) went for a sporty theme and chose basketball as her game for Dress a Sasha.  Her two boys are taking part in a great action shot as they get the ball in the net.

The boys playing basketball

Score!

Jinny M (number 12) chose to depict the joy of the seaside of 1949 in her Dress a Sasha as her baby enjoyed playing in a sandpit with lots of toys.  Very sensibly a sunshade was provided too, along with Jinny's memories of the seaside.

Baby by the sea

Sandpit baby

Lots of photos of Jinny's seaside memories

Brenda M (number 11) depicted her three in a visit to Washington DC circa 1949.  They were dressed very nicely in clothes of that era to see Washington at cherry blossom time.

Washington DC 1949

Dressed in their Sunday best to visit DC

Number 14. Kurt assembled the Woodworker scene (a boy after my own heart).  It looks like he is a remarkably productive boy who loves making useful things for the garden in his workshop.

The woodworker had tools and a work bench

The young woodworker

Sasha McC (number 16) took us into the world of Playing Dress Up at Grandmother's house with her girl attired in grandmother's vintage clothes. 

Her card explained:

"Playing dress-up was so much fun as a child. My sisters and I had a collection of costumes and clothes from our mother. Mom still has the bin filled with them in the attic. Just looking at it brings back wonderful memories. My Sasha doll is playing dress-up at her grandmother's house where she has found clothes her great-grandmother wore. The vintage clothes I have dressed my Sasha doll in belonged to my grandmother who loved collecting antiques, dolls and beautiful lace and linens."

The card explaining about playing dress up

Looking in the mirror at Great Grandmother's dress

A beautiful dress for playing dress up

Shayne T entry (number 18) gave us the glorious pass time or game of making a slimy mess!  Playdoh and slime is a perennial favourite for children, and in Shayne's depiction even the pets are getting involved!  Photographing this was difficult because of the light as some of the round high tables were set alongside the window, so they had to be spun around gently to photograph against the room light instead.  I've lightened these as much as I can.  I took these photos at different times in the day and as you can see the slime stretched and travelled a bit.

Having fun with the slime

Action shot - love how the baby's pose really gives movement, I can really see these children playing

Slime dribbling off the table

Those pets are enjoying the slime too

Made and assembled by adult

The made and assembled by adult entries follow below:
Julie R showed the joy of playing outdoors with a variety of games (number 1), it looks like hopscotch, hoola hoop, croquet and rugby were played at different times during their long periods in the garden outside the house in their comfortable playsuits.

Hopscotch and hula hooping

Croquet and that looks like a rugby ball in the background

Gerry B's entry (number 2) showed her skills in prop building and scene setting as she had made a tree and a swing which hanging over the edge of the table, but cleverly counterbalanced by the weight of the base under the grassy garden where the boy and pram stood.  The girl on the swing was clearly having a dreamy time. The children were dressed in Edwardian style costumes.

The tree and pram

Pushing the swing

The card explaining about the Edwardian children at play

The Edwardian boy pushing the swing

The baby and pram

Being fans of the NY Mets seems to be the focus of this Baseball (number 10) themed group, their clothes nicely matching the colours of their team.  I haven't found out who did this scene yet.

Mets baseball fans all ready to watch the game

Getting ready to cheer on their team

Orange and green theme for the base ball enthusiasts

Lee M's entry (number 13) focussed on memories of a young brother and sister playing ten pin bowling together.

Her card explained:

To be a champion you have to start young. 
I am the youngest of three children.  My brother would tell me I was too young to play some games.  When he had finished playing my sister would play the game with me.  My mom used to make our clothes.

Playing with big sister because big brother wouldn't play

Ten pin bowling

The card explaining about practising to be a champion bowler

I haven't yet identified who created the entry of the girl in pale blue on a swing (number 15).

Her card explained:

The Swing. In keeping with the "Forever young" theme, I made Sasha's dress from a dress I wore when I was about 3 or 4 years old.  My grandmother made my dress.  I tried to preserve as many features of the dress as a I could, such as the embroidered placket on the front, the angel wings on the sleeves with the tatting.  Tucks were taken, rather than cutting, to reduce the size to fit Sasha.  I wanted to preserve the integrity of the handiwork as much as possible.  Swinging was one of my favourite childhood activities.  Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "The Swing" was my inspiration for the scene I created.

The girl on the swing

Enjoying her swing in a pretty dress

The card explaining about the swing

I haven't yet identified who created this entry called Make believe (number 17) showing Peter Pan and Wendy, surely a favourite of many of us as children.  Wendy is reading and dreaming of her favourite childhood characters who can fly.

Peter Pan and Wendy

Dreaming and reading about flying

Make Believe

Dawn L created this Snowy scene (number 19) - the knitwear was beautiful and it looked like the three young Sasha dolls were having a lot of fun out in the cold with their sledge and snowman.  Dawn's friend Rosie S who designed the Llama pattern cardigan had encouraged her to knit these outfits.

Playing in the snow

Snowman and sledge, hats and sweaters

Wonderful knitting

JoAnn S had created a fun scene of her Railroad boys (number 20) with two boys in their railroad boiler suits playing with a toy train set.

On her card she explained:

Before there were video games and remote controlled toys, there were train sets. Almost every boy dreamed of having a great train set and becoming a train engineer someday.  Peter has a battery operated set, little Lee loves his wooden train and dreams of playing with the big boy train soon.  Both boys had to dress the part!

The card explaining about the boys and the trains

Playing trains in their boiler suits

Riding the trains!

My entry in this category, in case you missed the earlier post:

Sewing for and playing with dolls

Voting

When people came to vote for their favourite in each category, they were given 3 different coloured slips, one pale yellow (made by adult), one pale blue (assembled by adult) and one pale green (made by teenager).  They slotted their coloured slips into the three entries they liked the best, one for each category.

The voting category colours

Looking at entries to decide

Norvell and Charla counted up the slips afterwards and placed rosettes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place on the winning entries before they were taken down by their owners.

Winners in the adult categories

Assembled by Adult

First - Playing with slime/playdoh

Playing with slime and its first place rosette

Second - Woodworker

The Woodworker with his second place rosette

Third - Simone's studio

Very happy Peggy with her rosette and Simone's studio

Made and assembled by adult

First - Edwardian children at play

The rosette on Gerry's partly dismantled entry

Second - Playing in the snow

Dawn's rosette for second place

Third - Make believe

This one was already packed away when I took photos of the winners with rosettes, so this is a repeat of my earlier photo.

Make believe was placed third

And as explained in part 4, my daughter's entry for 'made by teenager' won first prize.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey with its winning rosette

Twenty very different interpretations of the festival theme resulted in a fascinating 2017 Dress a Sasha competition.

Part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6 if you haven't seen them already.