Vintage Wooden Doll Crib

This weekend, I helped friends move from one house to another. As a thank you gifts, I was given a vintage wooden doll crib.

This crib is larger than the doll crib I had as a child in the 1970s, and is all wood - no particle board in sight. The sides do not go up and down and the crib has wheels, so I am thinking this might be from the 50s. It also has a cute applique of rabbits on one end - I will see about getting a pic of it later.

Horsman Thirstee Walker looks on as some of the younger babies try out the new crib.

Vogue Ginny Baby, Ideal Rub-A-Dub Dolly,

Eugene "Not Suzy", and Kay Sam 4476.

I look forward to incorporating this fabulous crib into my doll displays.

Oh, Why Did I Sell Them?

 1979 was a good doll year for me. For my eighth birthday I received the most beautiful Barbie family doll ever, Superstar Christie. 

I also received a "clone" doll with a great red, white, and blue wardrobe. I wish I could find photos of the set. The doll was a basic Barbie clone with blonde hair, but the clothes were great: white slacks, blue denim sailor themed slacks, a red and white striped hooded sweatshirt with pockets, a red knit sweater jacket with belt, an off the shoulder red evening gown with white ruffles, a white purse that could actually hold things, and high heel shoes and white boots. The doll, itself, came wearing a blue bathing suit. There was also a red shawl/wrap to match the red evening gown.

This clothing set, pretty much doubled the clothing I had available for my female 11 1/2" fashion dolls, which now numbered at 4.

15 or so years ago, I sold the doll and outfits at a yard sale. Now I wish that I had hung onto them. Oh well.

Rio De Janeiro

In the United States, February is Black History Month. So today I am sharing my first black doll.

When I was 6 or 7 years old (1977 or 1978) my father traveled to Re De Janeiro, Brazil on a business trip. Being a kind father, he brought me home a souvenir doll.

She is made of a thin, hollow plastic, and her dress is mainly made of thick ribbons.

Her face painting is exquisite and glamorous.

Over the years, her fabrics have faded and her paint has cracked and chipped, but she is still beautiful and has a place of honor in my home.

Doll House Christmas

Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year. I put together a quick Christmas morning scene with my doll house family. This is appropriate, since I received the doll house for Christmas when I was 8 years old in 1979.

I was surprised when I woke up that morning to see a doll house in front of the tree, even though I had received a doll house family from my Aunt and Uncle earlier that week. Inside the empty doll house was a small wrapped box. Inside the box was a Christmas tree, tree skirt, and a present for each member of the doll house family.

All that is missing from this scene is my mini-me of the doll house family. She had a terrible decapitation incident after surviving a foot amputation. The house, too, is gone, but the many memories survive.

Mom, Dad, Tommy, baby Billy, and Peanut Butter the cat celebrate Christmas morning. April must be taking the photo.

Looks like Tommy is happy with his airplane.

Dad is going to start a fire in the fireplace to warm the house up.

Peanut Butter is wondering where his presents are. And it looks like April got two dolls to add to her collection. The dolls were the type that came in plastic Christmas ornament balls with candy and a toy. Many of the toys in the doll house were from those or the Easter Egg equivalent.

Have an Awesome Autumn

Sadly, it was time to put away the Halloween decorations. So put them away I did. And Lo, and behold, I now had room to put up an Autumn display.

This season, I have decided to showcase: Fisher Price My Friend Jenny (1979), Goldie Wilson Bleuette (2018), and Junplanning Isul Vesselle (2011). To complete the scene, I have added a leaf and pumpkin stuffed cornucopia, my crocheted pumpkins, and two sweet, plush kitties.

Can you tell that Autumn is my favorite time of year?

International Take Your Teddy Bear to Work or School Day

Today is International Take Your Teddy Bear to Work or School Day!

Since school is closed today in my town in honor of Yom Kippur, I decided to share one of my teddy bears with all of you instead.

My first teddy bear was a large pink and white teddy bear filled with sawdust. The kind that may have been a carnival prize. It was a gift to me when I was born. It was way too big to play with much, over two feet, so I didn't get too attached to it.

My second teddy bear was Pot Belly Bear by Daekor. I had first seen this bear at a local store when I was 8 years old. I was obsessed with it. Every time I walked through the toy section I would stop in front of him and memorize everything about him and read the tag and packaging over and over. Luckily my mother had noticed my not so subtle behavior and he was my Christmas present this year.

Over the years (about 40 of them), he was much loved, hugged, and squished by me (and tortured by my younger brother), until I re-stuffed him as well as I could and restitched his worn and torn spots when I was in my early 20s. At that point, due to his fragile state, I retired him from cuddle duty. Instead of comforting me through the night, he became the elder statesman of the other stuffed animals.

Over the years, other Teddy Bears have entered my home and collection, but none of them hold my heart as much as Pot Belly Bear does.

Do you have a special Teddy Bear?

Summer is Over, Finally, and Fall is Here

It has been a busy late August and September. 

I: celebrated my birthday and set up a birthday party display;

crocheted Star Wars characters, Yoda and a Stormtrooper, for my Nephews' 5th birthday presents;

have been substitute teaching since school is back in session; caught my first cold of the school year; and have started decorating for Halloween.

3 of the 18" dolls are ready for Trick or Treating.

Melody, the new girl on the block is a sparkly mermaid.

Julie is a black cat.

 And Sadie is Wonder Woman.

I received four Annalee witches for my birthday. 

I have named them: Magrat, Gytha,

Esme,

and Agnes. (After the witches in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.)

 

Thirstee Walker even has a costume for her first time Trick or Treating. Like Sadie, she is dressed as Wonder Woman.

3 Cheers for Mikey and Nicky

If you have read all of my blog posts, you know that I am a fan of the Fisher Price My Friend dolls, starting with My Friend Mandy who I received as a young child for Christmas 1977. Since starting this blog, I have gradually added all of Mandy's friends to my collection.

My most recent acquisition is Mikey (released 1982), the boy of the group. I found him at the Rowbear's National Doll Festival that was taking place at the hotel across the street from the UFDC convention hotel last month. Purchasing him means that I have completed my collection.

Since I already had Jenny (released 1979),

Mandy (released 1977),

Becky (released 1982),

And Nicky ! In fact, I had bought Nicky earlier this year at the MLK Jr. Day doll luncheon that I enjoy going to, but hadn't taken her out of her box yet.

Nicky was the last character added to the original line in 1985.

Like the other dolls, Nicky is machine washable and her hair can be safely shampooed. The box recommends that instead of combing her hair, a pick should be used so that her curls are not damaged.

She comes in a cute cheerleader costume and has her own pom-poms. When she was released, Mandy was also re-released in a cheerleader costume. And the year before, Jenny was re-released in an aerobics costume. I guess it was the mid 1980s and athletic looks were more popular than sweet 70s dresses and the peasant look.

Now all the dolls are reunited.

Hip - hip- hooray!

All of My Raggedy Anns and Andys

Currently, I have a small collection of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls.

As you can see, they reside together in a wooden doll cradle in my doll room.

My replacement Dress Me Raggedy Ann by Knickerbocker (c. 1970) and a reproduction Molly-E Raggedy Andy from Applause (1993)

Susan Fosnot doll from an event at the 2014 UFDC convention. I recorded the event in this previous post.

Springwater Cookies doll from the late 1990s.

Mini Raggedy Andy by Knickerbocker from my childhood lamp (c. 1970).

25" Applause Raggedy Ann from the 1990s. She had her own post here.

Another photo of my Dress Me Raggedy Ann. You can read more about her in this earlier post and this one.

This concludes my Raggedy Ann series of posts, for now.