The Last Doll Show of 2026

   After trying to decide if I wanted to bother, Ken and I went to the last doll show of the season last weekend. It's a fair sized one. It's held at a sports center, and unfortunately carpeted with very thick astro turf, which is very difficult to push a wheelchair through. I have to say though, without having Ken's wheelchair to lean on I probably couldn't have made it around the show. My back has been getting increasingly bad lately, and I find I need something to lean on to spend any amount of time walking around most of the time. I recently had a back x-ray, and other than the arthritis I suspected, I was informed that I have a herniated disc. It's only a stage one though, so supposedly it can heal. It also explains the trouble I've been having with my hip and leg for the last million years. I am set to start  physical therapy. I don't see things improving though. I have to take care of Ken, which involves tugging him up from some seated positions, and up the stairs to get in  and out of the house, and also there is a lot of bending and lifting in my life. All are things people with herniated discs aren't supposed to do. I hope there is some solution though, because I have been telling Ken that I can't cope with this constant pain any more. I never even take anything for a headache, so if I'm ready to take something for this pain so I can function, you know it's bad. You might have noticed I don't do much doll photography any more, and most of what I do is not very arty. That's because I can't get down on the ground to doll level any more. Well, I might get down there, but getting back up is another story.

  In any case, here are some pictures from the show. It seems like a lot of pictures, but it would have been way more if my phone hadn't stopped taking pictures somewhere around halfway through. Ken wants everyone to know that he had solutions for me, that I wouldn't take because I'm paranoid something might get deleted off my phone. I also could have gone back to the car, which I had to park way at the other end of the parking lot because all the handicapped spots were full, and get my other phone, but my pain said no. So there are still plenty of pictures, but I usually feature Wendy L Creations and Bristol Park Studios. Both were there, and both had some really great stuff. Unfortunately my phone had stopped taking pictures before I came across either of them. If you're interested in seeing their marvelous creations, you can find WendyL Creations on Facebook and Instagram, and Bristol Park Studios on Etsy and Facebook, by clicking these links. 

  I always start at the side of the show where I enter the room. I realized that I usually buy most of the things I buy on the other side of the room. So I decided to start over there this time. The first thing I spotted that really drew my interest was on the first side though, so I made an exception. I headed straight for this girl.

She's Freckles by Uneeda. She was made in 1962, just like me! (Okay. If you want to get technical, I was made in 1961, but I was born in 1962!) I have been wanting one, and this one had bright orange hair! 

And teeth!

But she was a very big girl, and $30. The price was good for her, but she's so big. I've been trying not to buy anything very big these days. I think Freckles came in three sizes, the smallest being 12 inches and the biggest, which I think was this girl, was 32 inches tall. So she was gorgeous, just what I have been wanting, but I walked away!

 Well, not completely away. I did buy something from this dealer, but it was small! I'll show you everything I bought in an upcoming post.

  The same dealer also had this Old Cottage doll. He was beautiful, but more than I wanted to spend. Sorry the picture is blurry, but he was so cute I wanted to show him anyway.

  The dealer also had this wooden lady. She was very nice.

  And continuing with this dealer, this boudoir doll had a lot of personality. 

    I was very tempted by this guy.

He is the very model of a modern major general.

You know I love those little German dollhouse dolls. This little guy is dressed as a Russian.

  I might have shown this girl in a previous show post too. Hey. I like what I like. I'm consistent.

These felt dolls were cute.

This set of wooden peg dolls was nice, but expensive. I want the tiny one.

 

  Here are some pretty girls. The Mary Hartline on the right is a little scary looking!

The middle girl is very cute, but look at that Kewpie kid!

  This cute cloth doll was only $5. In previous times I would have been tempted beyond being able to refuse her.

  This piano baby had the crazy eyes!!

She looks like she just fell off a wagon and was saying, "Excuse me! You just dumped me here! Come back."

  This lady was very colourful.

  More cute kids.

  I must like this lady. I realized I photographed her at a previous show. Hey! Maybe Freckles will be at the show in the Spring...

  This little girl is quite realistic.

  These rod puppets by Loutky were cool, and they had their original box.

If you've ever read the Doll People books, maybe you will see Tiffany Funcraft in a couple of these puppets too.

  I loved these dolls. Such pretty, shiny faces. I think the one in the big hat is Deanna Durbin.

  I know I photographed the lid of this doll's box, but it didn't show up. The doll was about 6 inches tall. I thought the face was very familiar. I saw another doll at the show, a big, full sized doll, with this face. I was a Tonner, but this one wasn't.

  This dealer had several Kish dolls, including Creamsicle Lark! That's one of my unobtainable grail dolls! She was $150, which is why she's unobtainable. I didn't realize she was so big. and I had forgotten that she's jointed. The dealer wasn't taking very good advantage of that fact in displaying her.

 I loved these cute felt faced dolls.

  These Irish dolls were also very much my thing.

  Here's another Kewpie looking kid.

  The dealer with the dolls that had been donated to a museum was there again. She had these dolls.

   She also had this doll, made of cut paper.

  She also had this canoe full of the Lewis and Clark expedition. (And Dilbert.) I went to school with a girl who though Sacajawea's name was Sackjaws. These dolls would have gone well in my collection of cloth dolls from Colonial Williamsburg and children's books. Remember that reference for an upcoming post.

  These were fairly large dolls, being about 12" and 14" tall.  

She had this beautiful set of wooden furniture for an 8 inch or so doll. I would have loved to have it, (Don't need it!) , but her prices were so high on the dolls that I didn't even bother to ask how much it was.

 

There were some bisque dolls.

  

  This tiny lady with a spun cotton head was a Christmas decoration.

  These cute wooden dolls were by Renault. They remind me a lot of Lotte Sievers Hahn dolls. 

  A couple of tall girls.

  More Deanna Durbins.

  There were quite a few dolls at the show like the two flanking the blonde Shirley Temple look alike. I can't remember the name of that doll.

 A couple of chunky kids. The one reminds me of a dark haired John Candy.

  I'm not sure if these two were meant to be twins, or if the dealer just happened to have two of the same doll.

 This girl has Princess Leia buns.

  This guy was vey sweet, and a bit Hummelish.

 

 The last thing I photographed before the phone pooped out was this doll.

  I have talked many times about the Susie Slicker I had as a kid. I loved my big eye dolls. I would have had this doll in a heartbeat if I had found her as a kid...or even now! If only she weren't more than I could spend! She's the Black version of Susie Sad Eyes, and her name is Soul Sister. I knew they existed, but I've never seen one in person before.

  Well, that's it for the last doll show of the year. Maybe my back will get fixed and I'll feel more like going to shows and taking more interesting photos again! In an upcoming post we'll see what I bought at this show.

That Ever Present Wish List

    Let's start with the obvious: It's been HOT lately!. Ken and I have been surviving in our house without air conditioning, but we have had to retreat to my sister's house a couple of times to cool off.

Tammy World came along for the ride, and because she gets hot too. She posed with my sister's rock collection, and a very colourful plant I've forgotten the name of.

 It's nice to get out of the heat, and it's nice to hang out with my sister, but it's an hour and a half drive each way, and by the time we spend any amount of time there, we have to drive back in the dark. The time before last we came close to hitting several animals, including a group of three deer, a mother racoon and her two babies, two more deer, and two more large lumps that I think were large raccoons. I hate driving at night these days. I'm tense the whole 90 minutes of the way home.

  I've been working on this post for ages. I don't get on my computer much any more because to charge mine we have to unplug Ken's. Then his dies, and he has nothing to do. My computer doesn't stay charged very long any more, so I can't get much done on a charge. We have minimal electric outlets we can use because of our wiring, so we're limited on outlets. We are a bit paranoid about another fire, so we don't want to leave anything charging in a room we aren't in either. Anyway, I'm sorry I don't post much any more, and sorry some of the posts have been a bit boring.

  As for Ken, he is doing well. He has been taken off medication after medication, and his recent blood work came back with great numbers. He has been released from occupational therapy, (but told to keep up his exercises and work on his muscles.), and will start physical therapy again in November. (Thanks to Medicaid  refusing to pay for more therapy right  now.) He passed his stroke-aversary July 14th. We forgot all about it until I happened to think of it much later.  

  I have taken loads of pictures of dolls I wanted to talk about with you, but I have never gotten around to posting them. I will try to do some of that soon. I'm still scooping up free toys via the Mini Brands displays, or at least I was. Yesterday, for the first time, I was told I couldn't have an empty box from our local Walmart. At least before that happened I managed to FINALLY snag the Lord of the Rings one, Two different Harry Potter boxes, and two different My Mini Baby ones. Walmart, it's not like I like you anyway. You're not doing yourself any favours. If it wasn't for the fact that I like your wet wipes, and you are the store most often selling yellow corn, I wouldn't even darken your door.    

  Reader Treesa sent me some wonderful Christmas gifts that I have yet to show you. I'll get to that when I have more time, but in the meantime, she asked me recently if I had any grail dolls left that were unattainable, for whatever reason. Well, of course I do. Those things are never ending, especially those expensive ones that are never going to be accessible.  So I thought it might make for an interesting post, to see what dolls I have wanted for ages, but will probably never get. 

  I have gotten pretty much all the dolls I wanted as a child, but never got as a child. Those include That Kid, which you're probably sick of hearing me talk about...

This particular boy was ruined in the water damage from the fire. He was amazingly quickly, (and cheaply!) replaced!

If not, I have several posts on That Kid. You can access them in the side bar, under That Kid.

...Mrs. Beasley.

Poor perfect Beasley, with glasses, got smoked in the fire  I have yet to get around to cleaning her.

The same goes for The Bease. I have a few posts on her, but the LONG one about her history is my most viewed post ever, and continues to get record views every day. You can check out the Mrs. Beasley posts by clicking that name in the side bar.

  My dream Beasley, which I got at a yard sale got all smoked up in the fire. I haven't tried to wash her yet. If I had had her at Emma's, with access to a washing machine I could trust, (as opposed to one at the laundry mat.), I would probably have given her a wash. She is sitting upstairs, all sooty. I will probably try to clean her up this summer and see how she does. I have a back up Beasley that was supposed to get sold, and she even has her glasses, so I might end up keeping her. Dream Beasley's glasses were on the vanity in my bedroom during the fire, and they melted a bit. They're still glasses, but they are a bit misshapen, and might not stay, (or even fit), on her head any more. I would never get rid of her though. I run into her original owner every now and then, and I can still tell her that her girl has a good home with me. Not so good that she didn't get smoked like a piece of meat, but still...

  I also got multiple versions of the Drowsy I always wanted, including the original kitty cat PJ version I didn't even know existed when I was a kid.

  You can see those by clicking Drowsy in the sidebar.

  I would still like some other dolls that use the Drowsy head sculpt, like  Baby Colleen, and maybe Teachy Keen.

The red head in the nightgown, top left corner, is Baby Colleen. Teachy Keen is the girl in the pink coat.

  I also had a desire for a talking Baby Beans. 

  I think the reason I never got one as a kid was that I was a little too old for a baby doll. I still wanted one though. I had a really nice Talking Baby Beans as an adult. That was years ago. But she still talked and was super clean and perfect, and she got sold. Now I have a not so clean one that doesn't talk. She'll have to do.

      Over the years I have gotten several dolls on my list that I thought I would never get, dolls like Betsy McCall. I now have multiple Betsys, in varying sizes. You can click on Betsy McCall in the side bar to see them.



I got this one at a doll show 

This girl was cheap at a doll show because she had dirt on her nose that the dealer thought was a nose nick!

This girl was cheap at a doll show for two reasons: The dealer knew nothing about dolls, and I had to fix her eye.

  Another was the Maru and Friends Savannah. She was more than I generally spend on a doll, and I thought I'd never get one. You can see Savannah's post HERE.

   Then I bought a big one and a little one from Emily at The Toybox Philosopher. And you can see little Savannah's post HERE.

 I wanted a Zwergnase doll, but they are so expensive. But Emily also gave me a really good price on one of those, so I ended up with one of those too. 

You can see her post HERE.

  I wanted an Agnes Dreary, and I did manage to get one for only $50 when they were clearanced on the Tonner website years ago.

You can see Agnes' post HERE.

  I love Dianna Effner dolls, and wanted a :Little Darling. Well that was never going to happen, until amazing reader Dorothy SENT ME ONE!

You can see her post HERE.

  I still can't believe she was so generous and thoughtful. Thanks again Dorothy!

I always wanted a Garden Patience, with her red hair and pretty dress, but I have given up and settled for the naked, dark haired Prom Patience I got cheap on Ebay years back. She's rooted, not wigged, so I can't make her into a red head, but the wigs are expensive anyway.

  Now for the dolls I didn't get. Of the dolls I wanted, but never have gotten that are not quite as expensive, there is the Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse Midge that I never got.

  She was the first Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse Midge, I think. She went up quite a bit after her original release, but she seems to have dropped in price lately.

  Of the dolls I still want, but will almost certainly never get, I still yearn for the Mezco Dr. Zaius Planet of the Apes doll.

  (I'm sure there are people who will insist that this is an action figure, not a doll, but let's be honest:  we all know they're the same thing.) He was affordable, (barely), and then his price rose on the secondary market. It looks like he's occasionally more affordable now, but he's still out of my price range these days.

  I still want a red haired Brikette by Vogue, but I'd even settle for a Jinx, by Kaysam or Jolly Toys,  which looks almost exactly like Brikette.

This is a beautiful Brikette I saw at a doll show.

  I still want that red haired Klumpe girl with glasses, and a suitcase. I can't find a stock photo of her, so you'll have to use your imagination...and your Google search. The closest thing I can show you is my red haired Roldan gardener girl, which is neither Klumpe, nor holding a suitcase. But Roldan's are kind of like Klumpes, so...

My Roldan gardener girl, the closest I'll get to the Klumpe suitcase girl.

   Something I always wanted came out when I was 13. Maybe I didn't get him because I thought I was too old for such toys. I don't remember. I did go through that stage, believe it or not. I still want one though. His name is Hugo, Man of a Thousand Faces.

He was made by Kenner. He's a puppet that came with loads of disguise pieces, like scars and wigs and false chins and noses. He even had sunglasses and an eye patch. If you've ever seen the pre-Playhouse 'Pee Wee Herman Show' HBO special, you'll have seen Hugo. He's so expensive these days, that unless I run across one in a thrift store or yard sale, neither of which I frequent very often these days, I'll probably never get one.

  I also still want the Mattel Squishies  witch I saw when I was nine years old. I saw her one time in a J.C. Penney while shopping with my mom, and I still want her. 

  You can see my post on her HERE.

  But the newer dolls that I want that I will undoubtedly NEVER get include Tonner's Wilde Imagination Hamish doll...

He has become REALLY expensive.

...and Sad Sally. I most want the red haired one, but I can't find a stock photo of the red haired Sad Sally dolls. I think there were two, the very first one, and a later one called Sad Little Witch. They both had crazy bushes of red hair. If you aren't familiar with Tonner/Wilde Imagination's Sad Sally line, I can direct you to my post on Sally's friend Bashful Burt.

  Keeping to the red haired dolls, there's also Helen Kish's Creamsicle Lark or Lark of the High Seas...

Lark of the High Seas.

Creamsicle Lark.

...and then there's Kish's Raggedy Riley. 

  These are all from years ago now. Of newer dolls, I wanted a red haired Ruby Red Fashion Friends doll. I have a Siblie,but I wanted the full size version. They do a lot of special edition dolls, and there was one I really loved, but I was willing to settle for Rock Star Stella, even though I don't care for her clothes.

  I'm sure I've forgotten something that I really want, but this has been hanging around in draft form long enough.  So, here it is. At least you know I'm still alive. Also, I do show up in the comments on other people's blogs sometimes. I will try and not leave it so long between posts in the future. See you soon...I hope.