Monthly Archives: May 2016

Many Outfits are in Progress

Hello everyone! The summer season has officially started here in the United States. Yay!

I’m sorry that I wasn’t around to chat last week. My daughter graduated from high school and it was super duper busy around here. So many good byes and things ending . . . it’s hard. I know there will be lots of new beginnings, but the endings are sad, they really are.

Last week, I sewed . . . and sewed; I ONLY sewed! I didn’t knit, crochet, embroider, or complete any ensembles. When I would get some time, I would run down to my studio to sew another dress. Now I have 5 dresses waiting for their sweaters to be knit and/or embroidered.

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You can see who the dresses are all for. I do at least have all the sweaters planned—Patsy’s is knit already. I’m going to knit all of the sweaters and then go back to embroider and complete the ensembles. Gotta sometimes change things up.

Gina’s sweater will be knit with white lace weight mohair and then dyed a very light rosy pink. Lucy’s will be a light pink bamboo. Gracie’s cardigan will be white pima cotton/bamboo. Patsy’s is white mohair lace. And, Millie’s will be knit with pink baby alpaca/silk lace yarn. I also have a small ball of merino lace yarn that I hand dyed (a couple weeks ago) a light sky blue to knit a dress for Sugar. I guess I’d better get knitting!

Wishing you all a great Tuesday! Bye for now!

“Sunshine Darling”

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My Little Darling, Gina, is here to show you what I completed for her this past week. This color palette was totally outside my comfort zone—no pink, blue, or anything in the purple family. If you look back at my past photos most of what I make contains one or more of these colors.

This ensemble started out with the yarn. I pulled a skein of melon colored heathered wool out of my stash (probably on a cloudy day) and HAD to knit a sweater with it ASAP. It is not orange, but a wonderful shade of melon with flecks of very subtle pale lemon-y yellow throughout. I happened to have this lovely fabric by Sandy Gervais (Moda Fabrics) in my “recently acquired favorites” stash. PERFECT!

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(Please pardon my horribly wrinkled backdrop. It’s on my “to do” list for ironing.)

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Aren’t the colors in this fabric fresh, bright, and summery? I love this fabric (even though it contains no pink, blue, or anything purple)!

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I wanted to mimic the open feeling of these roses as depicted by the fabric’s designer. I used tiny seed and Delica beads sewn onto the sweater first, and then made bullion stitches around the bead clusters.

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Gina requested a flower cutting basket (just like Lucy’s) out of natural hemp. You can see the ensemble with my first flower cutting basket here. These crocheted baskets are perfect for a bouquet of long stemmed flowers.

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The bouquet isn’t attached to the basket, so the Little Darlings can also hold the bouquet separately.

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Gina’s wide brimmed hat is crocheted with three different fibers and edged with a matching melon colored cotton. A hand made wool felt bow decorates the under side of the brim. She is sunny day, spring/summer ready!

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Gina enjoyed our sunny day outside during her photo shoot. We found a shady spot underneath the apple tree for some great shots.

“Sunshine Darling” will be available Sunday, May 22 (2016), at 7:00 pm, CST. Go to the “Shop What’s New” page at cindyricedesigns.com at 7:00 for more information on this one-of-a-kind ensemble made for Dianna Effner’s Little Darling dolls.

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(Almost) Real Time Friday

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I wanted to pop in and say hello to you all and wish you a great weekend. We are having a stretch of beautiful days. Maybe the sun is here to stay? I can only hope that’s the case. Sunny days are very uplifting for me. I hope that you are having a stretch of beautiful days also.

Popping in to say hello means sharing a few images of what’s happening around here. I have an ensemble finished for the Little Darlings. And, it’s not pink, blue, or lilac . . . surprise, surprise!

I snapped this photo of Gina this morning and the other two following from our photo shoot yesterday.

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I’ve been working on something for Patsy… yes, again, lucky girl. This ensemble started with the hat. I originally crocheted this hat to go with “My Blue-ming Garden”, but it wasn’t right for it. This hat actually fits Patsy better anyway. Would you believe that I could only find in my stash two fabrics (other than dots or solid white) to coordinate with this hat? (Guess I need to buy more blue. lol) I know that I’ve just used this fabric for the Little Darlings, but it is perfect for our dear Patsy, and she fell in love with it. The Little Darlings ensemble focused on pink accents and Patsy’s will focus on blue with the pink being secondary. I plan to knit her a mohair sweater in warm white.

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Here are a couple of photos of fabric that arrived within the last few months. I’m saving this for fall ensembles. I think that this is the tiniest rose print that I’ve seen using so many colors.

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I get a thrill when I see such cute selvages on fabric. I’ve never actually made anything with them, but Lollyqquiltz has quite a few ideas about what to do with them. A tote bag, little girl’s skirt, more ideas, can be found on her blog. Cute, right!

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