Midsummer Sasha Gathering 2015 - part 1

We were lucky enough to be able to attend Dawn's Midsummer Sasha Gathering at her beautiful home in June, the event was co-hosted by Dawn L and Rosie S and included a delicious lunch.  It was a lovely friendly gathering, the weather was kind so we could eat outside on the verandah overlooking the garden and there were plenty of photo opportunities in her extensive garden for the dolls.  My husband came with my younger daughter and I (it was Father's Day), unfortunately my elder girl had a work shift so couldn't join us.  It was great to catch up with Sasha friends and talk prams (more of that in another post).

A certain little bear called Clemence had hitched a ride with our doll family and after eating the main course at lunch, he and Laura went to watch the next episode of the Lucas Adventures being filmed...

Dee setting up a photo at Dawn's fountain

Lucas and Clemence started getting into mischief while Laura enjoyed the view of the fountain and the glorious sunshine

Clemence was following Lucas to the middle of the fountain

climbing over the stones was hard work for a small bear and it took time

"Be careful not to get your paws wet Clemence" called Laura

... so Clemence took a long route from Laura to avoid getting his paws wet

By this time Lucas was sitting on top of one of the statues (assisted by Dee's helper)

Clemence was finding the journey to the middle of the fountain tiring

Did the status shake Lucas off or did he lose his footing?

Laura watched Lucas crawl back to the side of the fountain after his fall, she was relieved to see he was okay

Lucas was grumbling under his breath about the silly statue

Laura didn't notice Clemence climbing onto a tall statue

so she wandered away from the fountain to admire the flowers

by this time Clemence was nearly at the middle of the fountain

Lucas was greeted warmly by his dog Socks who was so relieved that he was safely back on dry land

meanwhile Clemence climbed over the last bigger stone to reach the centre of the fountain

and sat cheekily in the lap of one of the statue girls

who didn't seem to mind this little bear sheltering on her knees after his long journey across the stones

Laura suddenly realised with consternation that Clemence was still in the fountain area and went to look for him

when she saw him climbing the statue, she risked her dress to climb into the fountain to rescue her naughty bear

Laura gingerly walked across the stones and cried out in anguish when she what Clemence was doing

as Clemence climbed onto the head of the statue from which Lucas had fallen earlier

"Come down carefully Clemence" said Laura, "my apologies for my cheeky bear" she said to the statue girl

"I'm coming" said Clemence

Clemence climbed down carefully

And went for a cuddle with Laura, who was very relieved to have him safely back in her arms again

Laura and Clemence had a cuddle before making the journey back across the stones

When they got to the side of the fountain Clemence sat in Laura's headband while she carefully climbed out

And they restored their energy by sitting on the verandah with some scrumptious strawberries and cakes

Soon Clemence was all for another adventure, this time some tree climbing

Laura sat in the branches enjoying the scent of summer flowers

and was joined by her friend Henry

Clemence was going out on a limb, so Laura and Henry decided it was time for a walk

Henry and Laura had a lovely walk in Dawn's garden, though all the rock and tree climbing in a dress made Laura feel a bit faint.

Lorraine took some lovely photos of Henry and Laura's outing - see http://sewingforsasha.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/dawns-sasha-lunch-midsummer-meet-and-eat.html.  We had a great deal of trouble getting Laura to stand during the walk around the garden as the breeze was strong enough (in gusts) to blow her over just when we were about to take photos!  So as Lorraine's blog post shows, Henry and Laura were photographed sitting by the side of the path instead.

A Happy New Year story

Doll posing and storyline by DollMum's younger daughter, photos and words by DollMum.

Laura greets her white horse Emily with Clemence and baby Mabel

'I've got a surprise for you Emily' says Laura

As Laura walks away to fetch the surprise,
Mabel tries to stand to see Emily better...

...while cheeky Clemence climbs on calm Emily's head!

Laura greets the little white foal

'Clemence, what are you doing there' exclaims Laura
as she spies the little bear sitting on Emily's head

Clemence climbs down the stable roof

Laura opens the stable door

'Look Emily, see Scarlet, our new foal' says Laura
as she leads the new foal to the horse and pony in the stable

Laura introduces Emily and Scarlet to each other

Baby Mabel is very interested in Scarlet

Scarlet is also interested in baby Mabel

baby Mabel begs to be allowed to sit on Scarlet

Laura doubtfully agrees and holds onto
baby Mabel very carefully as she cuddles Scarlet

Laura leads Scarlet, with baby Mabel still riding, into Scarlet's stable

After lifting baby Mabel down from the foal,
Laura carefully closes Scarlet's stable door

'Happy New Year' say the girls and Clemence,
'we hope you like our new foal'

The 'Our Generation' foal was not one of the items I bought during my recent trip to Washington DC - I wasn't far from a Target store but didn't manage to visit it (Target stock all the 'Our Generation' dolls and accessories, including their horses).  In early December, during a quick trip into Smyth's toys superstore in the UK, I spotted that the Canadian 'Our Generation' dolls range has come to the UK.  My daughter's white horse is a Battat/Our Generation horse which I'd bought via ebay 3 years ago.  When I showed my younger daughter the range online, she was very excited about the foal and it wasn't too expensive (though would have been cheaper in the USA), so I bought it as part of her Christmas gift.

She decided to do this photo story showing how the horse and foal were introduced as a 'Happy New Year' greeting to all our doll friends.