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 Twofer Thursday!

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Alas the week is nearly over… already, and I haven’t gotten either of these new ensembles for the Little Darlings available yet. So, I’m offering them both at the same time. Yippie!

First up is “My Favorite Roses”, a lilac sweater dress ensemble. I picked my favorite pastel colors to embroider these roses. Aren’t they yummy? Both Lucy and Gina are here to model this sweater dress ensemble for you.

Bamboo sweater dresses are the perfect knits for warmer weather which we all are having, or wishing for at this time of the year. This is the fourth bamboo sweater dress that I’ve made for the Little Darlings. Last year I made one in natural, pink, and white. If you want to reminisce about those sweater dresses you can click on the names of the colors.

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Next up, is “Spring Beauty”. I love this little cardigan so much better now. I feel that all of the motifs are well balanced with each other and each one is a nicely composed bouquet. Yay! If you want to see how it used to look go here. This sweater is knit with lace weight baby alpaca/silk yarn. It is VERY soft! I made the neckline a bit wider with a lace pattern edge.

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Gina is modeling “Spring Beauty” for you. I took advantage of our beautiful pink magnolia bush in bloom for a few photos with Gina.

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“My Favorite Roses” and “Spring Beauty” will be available Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 7:00 pm CST. Check the “Shop What’s New” page at cindyricedesigns.com.

Daffodils, Magnolias, and…

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This is daffodil season here in northern Illinois. They are blooming prolifically alongside the roadways and in gardens. Last week, on the way home from picking up my daughter, I took a little detour to see if this roadside garden of daffodils was blooming. It was! Isn’t it gorgeous! I snapped a few pictures to show you this glorious garden of daffodils.

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I thought there was only one variety blooming here (basic yellow), but on closer inspection saw tiny daffodils and cream/yellow varieties as well.

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This was my very own little clump of daffodils ten days ago. Ugh, snow! Luckily, the snow didn’t kill my daffodils; they are fine and still blooming.

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We are starting our second week of springlike weather. So happy, happy, happy! It is finally spring and oh, so wonderful outside. These are my daffodils today.

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Truthfully, I think they liked getting snowed upon. They are still doing great ten days later.

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The magnolia bushes didn’t like the cold snap much, but luckily they were just starting to bloom, so we didn’t lose many blossoms.

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And, here is a photo from about a month ago that has nothing to do with daffodils or magnolias, sorry, but I wanted to share it anyway. When I was with my mom in January she gave me this puzzle. She saw it at the store and thought of me as it depicted many of my favorite things. Even though I am busy making things for our dolls, I finally had to put it together. It is the last (material) gift she gave me. Thank you, Mom!

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I hope you all are having a great start to this new week. I know some of you had snow over the weekend, sorry about that. I hope it melts in a flash, so spring can come back… and stay!

Bye for now!

Which Photo Came First?

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I took these first two photos today. Can you tell which one I took first? Look closely… it seems obvious, but it’s not what you think.

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Which one did you guess?

Here’s a close up photo of the sweater (the little pink one in front) that I embroidered a couple of days ago. Do you see anything wrong with it? I don’t think that I was having a very good day when I worked on it and didn’t notice how far off the sides were from mirroring each other. I realize that hand made things aren’t going to be 100% perfect, but the more I looked at this sweater the more I knew I had to redo one of the sides; one motif took up a LOT more space than the other side took up.

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So, the less compact motif is already ripped out, and I think I will be doing coordinating motifs, not mirrored motifs, on this sweater. I am thinking two smaller motifs to balance the larger one.

You’ve already figured it out by now… the second photo is the first one taken.

I hope you all have a great weekend! We are in for a very springlike weekend– yay!

Bye for now.