Author Archives: Cindy Rice

About Cindy Rice

My wonderful husband, my beautiful daughter, and I live in northeastern Illinois with our two sweet chihuahua boys. For as long as I can remember I have loved dolls and making things. I got my first Barbie when I was only three years old! My mom sewed for my Barbie dolls and taught me how to use her sewing machine when I was only seven. I cannot believe she let me near that needle, but she did. Not having enough money for my clothes habit in high school and college led me to start sewing all of my own clothes. There were so many fabric stores around back then and fabric was so inexpensive. I would wait for the 99 cent pattern sale and go crazy. Sewing for myself continued well into my 30’s. (I even made my wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses.) Shortly after I got married I left my full time graphic design position and started designing cross stitch patterns. I called my company “The Lilac Studio” and sold my botanical patterns at trade shows, through distributors which sold to retail shops, and mail order. My most popular pattern, “A Bouquet of Pansies” sold 5000 copies and won a J&P Coats Golden Needle Award! I was also featured in various cross stitch magazines and designed special projects for the magazines. When my daughter was born I didn’t have the time needed to cross stitch and design patterns all day long so I let my pattern design business slip away. And then I started discovering dolls again and I now had an excuse to start buying them. The only problem was that they were for my daughter and not for me. I soon discovered all of the adult collectors out there and decided I would be one of them. I started small at first, collecting Mattel Kelly dolls. Soon I collected over 100 Kelly dolls! After Kelly, I discovered Helen Kish’s Riley and Tonner’s Ann Estelle. I have since learned to knit doll sweaters and love an excuse to knit so most of my doll outfits include a sweater and/or hat. I love creating miniature outfits for dolls and enjoy sharing them with others. Currently I create doll ensembles for Ruby Red Fashion Friends, Kish Bethany, Dianna Effner's Little Darlings, Wilde Imagination's teeny tiny Amelia, Kaye Wiggs BJD, Boneka 10", Linda Macario's Penny.

It’s May!

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It’s May, but it doesn’t feel like it around here. We are on day 6 of dreary, dark, usually rainy weather. Ugh, ugh, ugh! Really, I am so very tired of it. When it is so dreary day upon day, it takes a real mental workout just to get out of bed in the morning.

One thing that I’ve started doing in the last few days is to count my blessings (and I have many) before I get up, so I can get up on the right side versus the wrong side of the bed. It makes all the difference to get out of bed with a grateful heart rather than a “woe is me” feeling inside.

Once I get up, this is how I start my mornings on these dark days–30 minutes of blue light (and a cup of coffee or tea 🙂 ). The blue light really make all the difference in how I sleep at night (as long as I remember to stay off of the computer a couple of hours before bedtime).

Just to show you how dreary it’s been… I think this was taken on Thursday or Friday.

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In addition to the clouds, we’ve been getting lots of rain too. A mallard couple thought that our pool cover was a pond and flew right in yesterday. The feral cat was on the deck, the dog was barking at them, and they didn’t care; they stayed awhile and swam around.

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One of the blessings that I took note of on Saturday morning was the sunshine we got at 5:00 pm on Friday. I know, not much, but I’ll take what I can get. I made sure my BJD resin dolls were out of the sunlight and opened the curtains in my sewing room. It was so nice and warm!

Unfortunately, my last doll outfits (the one I just finished for Sugar) and the one I’ve been working on all week are in blue. Couldn’t I pick something in yellow? It is really hard to work with blue when it is dreary. I think I will look at the weather forecast the next time I want to make something in blue. lol

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Here are some photos from the last time I took a sunshine-y walk (last Monday). The violets were blooming; I love violets!

Even dandelions are pretty (I think so anyway).

These teeny tiny purple flowers bloom in large patches in the grass this time of year. They look like a carpet of purple. Does anyone know what they are? They are super duper tiny; you can see that they make the dandelion appear huge.

We are supposed to have a very nice week, so that is what I am counting on, but I am aware that you cannot count on the weather, so I had better prepare myself… just in case.

“Pastels in the Garden”

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My Linda Macario’s Penny is excited and thrilled to show you her new springtime sweater dress. We had a very quick outdoor photo shoot yesterday. I had on my long down coat, but poor Penny was quite cold. Ah, a career in modeling can be quite uncomfortable. Anyway, Penny is fine today; she didn’t catch a cold, so all is good.

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Our lilac phlox is blooming. It is so pretty!

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For Penny’s first bamboo sweater dress I tried to mimic the colors and embroidery pattern of “My Favorite Roses” which I just finished for the Little Darlings. I do love pastels… A LOT! Since Penny is quite a bit smaller than the Little Darlings the knitting of this dress was much quicker, so Penny should be the lucky recipient of many more bamboo sweater dresses. She hopes so anyway!

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Once we got inside Penny stopped shivering and relaxed into the photo shoot.

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“Pastels in the Garden” will be available for sale tonight at 7:00 pm CST, to U.S. and Canadian customers. I have been having problems with my website refreshing itself immediately for some customers, so you can now go to my website to view the page and see more photos and specifics about this outfit. To be fair, I will not accept emails or contact forms for purchasing this ensemble until 7:00 pm. And, please also only send a request once. This ensemble will be sold to the first email or contact form that I receive at 7:00 or later. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me ahead of time. Thank you!

“Patsy in Pink”

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Well, finally… Patsy gets some attention around here. Her last outfit was a Christmas ensemble! Poor girl! She is so patient though, not a peep or a complaint out of her.

Since Patsy has waited so long and shown such patience, I picked out one of my favorite (and hers too, I think) pink fabrics for her. I used this fabric last year for Gina here.

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As you can see, this girl loves pink. Look, she’s wearing Penny’s Boneka white leather shoes. They fit perfectly with this outfit, and look oh, so cute! I love it when the girls share.

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Patsy’s hand knit mohair/silk sweater shows off two mirrored image rose motifs in soft colors to coordinate with the dress.

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The sweater can be worn open or buttoned up with the little pink bead buttons.

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Patsy’s crocheted wide brimmed hat is made with three different fibers: bamboo pink, a finer warm white cotton, and a pure white cotton. The brim is edged with the bamboo pink to give a ruffly effect. I happened to have another print from the same fabric collection, so I used it to make a band for the hat. The mohair rose is crocheted as is the bamboo green leaf.

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On Instagram I show this bracelet being made using my iPhone and the time lapse effect (wish it really went this fast!). Click here if you’d like to see my video. Also click here to see a time lapse video of Patsy being posed for her photo shoot. FYI, I don’t think you need to have an Instagram account to view my photos and videos on Instagram.

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