Hello Quilty Friends!
Happy Thursday to you!
Hard to believe it’s July already and the July 4th holiday is tomorrow. It’s not every year that the holiday falls on a Friday, so I see a 3 day weekend ahead for many of you. What are your plans for the holiday weekend? Me, I plan to take in some fireworks and maybe eat some fab picnic foods. Yum, yum, yummy!
Happy Independence Day!
July 4th with Quilts
In celebration of Independence Day, I have a few fun quilty things to share with you today! Woohoo!
So I wanted to feature our 12 Quilts of Valor Pattern Collection on the blog. A lot of you probably already have the 12 QOV collection among your VRD patterns, but for those of you who are new to VRD or haven’t added the collection yet, let me tell you about this great collection of patterns.
Get your 12 QOV Collection HERE
A portion of each pattern collection sold is donated to the Quilts of Valor Foundation
The collection includes 12 patterns sized perfectly for your Quilts of Valor (QOV) projects – no more trying to figure out if a pattern is the right size for a QOV. You will find patterns that use yardage, fat quarters, 5″ squares, and panels (4 panel quilts in the collection and 1 of them uses horizontal panels). Finally, several of our talented VRD designers have patterns in the collection so you get a nice variety of styles in this collection. And of course, all of the patterns are fast, fun, and quickly done!
Almost forgot to mention – shipping is free on patterns on the VRD website, regardless of how many print patterns (or collections) you order!
At this time, the collection is only available in print format, but if you prefer our digital patterns or are an international friend, the patterns are also available as individual downloads. Please note that the download pattern covers will be different from the print pattern collection covers.
Grand Prize – you would need to add a border around the outside to make it the correct size for a QOV
Last year on the blog for the 4th of July, I created a curated a Red, White and Blue Pattern list. You can find it HERE.
I hope your July 4th holiday is filled with new memories, American pride, picnic food, and quilts!
Dolls and Quilts
I realize this section of the blog isn’t really connected to the 4th of July at all, but I just had to tell you about my very first Sasha Doll Festival. Oh! I’m wrong – I just realized the theme for this year’s Festival was “Sasha Explores the USA” so it is kind of related to the 4th of July after all.
This past weekend I had the absolute pleasure of attending my very first Sasha Doll Festival. It was held in Columbus, Ohio which made the drive doable for me. Let me tell you though, last Thursday when I was on my way to the hotel/conference center where the Festival was being held, I kept running in and out of severe weather. There were times when I couldn’t seen anything at all due to the deluge and the steam coming off the road (the temps were in the 90s). It was kind of scary as this was my first longer road trip alone, but I followed the big trucks in front of me and everything went okay.
I got to the hotel/conference center safely, although it did take me an extra couple hours. I must admit I missed one exit and had to drive back around to catch the exit again. Thank goodness for my GPS.
Maybe you’ve never heard of Sasha dolls. Sasha dolls were created by Swiss doll artist Sasha Morgenthaler. She created personally created dolls in her studio from the 1940’s to the 1970’s (these surviving dolls are called studio dolls). She also taught classes to others about her techniques and the dolls created during those classes are called course dolls today. In the mid 1960’s, Sasha worked with the German doll company Gotz to manufacture vinyl play dolls based on her studio dolls. She wanted children to have quality dolls at an affordable price. Gotz made Sasha Serie (series) dolls from 1965-1969. A company in England also began making Sasha dolls in 1966 and continued until 1986. Then, Gotz made Sasha dolls once again from 1995-2001.
For more information about Sasha the artist and her dolls, you can go HERE.
I am a relatively new collector and enthusiast, although I saw my first Sasha doll as a child at my local public library. The library had a very special toy collection and you could check out the toys just like books when I was a child. They had Sasha dolls in the collection and I was so in love with the blond girl doll in the blue gingham dress (she would have looked something like this, below). Over the years I saw Sasha dolls here and there in doll clothes books or on the Internet. A couple years ago, I wondered if I could find Sasha dolls for sale online. And I did. My modest collection now includes 11 girls, 10 babies, and 7 boys.
Here are 3 of the 10 dolls I took with me to the Festival. All 3 dolls are from the English production. Eden (1968) is on the left, Penny (1975-1980) is in the middle, and Annabelle (1969) is on the right.
I just love that the dolls are so realistic looking and no two are alike. They are lovely to pose and to dress (and make clothes for!), and each one seems to have their own personality.
It was an amazing Festival (of course being that it was my first one, I don’t have anything to compare it to). I met so many lovely people! I went to the Festival hoping to find some Sasha people in my own area, and I did! I even met Gina (Hi Gina!) and discovered not only did she live within 2 hours of me, but we actually know some of the same people. Crazy, isn’t it???
At this point, you might be wondering how Dolls and Quilts go hand in hand? Doll Quilts, of course!
As a gift to you, I am sharing a sweet and simple little doll quilt pattern. Make it for yourself, a child, or even another doll lover.
Sweet and Simple Doll Quilt
By Tricia Maloney
18″ x 23″
Fabric
20 – 5″ Charm Squares or 20 assorted scraps at least 5″ square
½ yd for backing
20″ x 25″ thin batting or flannel
¼ yd binding
Cut
20 – 5″ squares
20″ x 25″ for quilt back
3 – 2″ or 2 1/4″ width of fabric strips for binding
Sew
- Sew 4 assorted 5″ squares together into a row. Make 5 rows.
- Sew the rows together.
Finish
- Layer your quilt top, batting, and backing.
- Quilt as desired.
- Bind your quilt.
- Don’t forget your label!
If you’d like to download and print my Sweet and Simple Doll Quilt pattern, you can find the PDF below:
Well, that’s it for me. Have a marvelous holiday!
Catch you next week right here!
Until then —
Sew. Laugh. Celebrate. Repeat.
Always,
Tricia @ VRD
Villa Rosa Quilts 