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.

New Doll Books

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I love childrens books, and books about dolls are even more of a treat. I had some books on my Christmas list and received them all!

books 764 I think The Best Loved Doll by Rebecca Caudill is my favorite of the bunch, but I love them all. I may have read this book as a child, but I am not sure.

kitty's new doll 759 Kitty’s New Doll by Dorothy Kunhardt is a sweet story featuring cats as the main characters. I love the colorful watercolor-like illustrations.

In the end Kitty picked the most simple doll that would lead to the imaginative play.

The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright has actual photographs of a doll and teddy bears in different settings. Two of my blog readers mentioned this book last year and the photos sparked a memory, so I put it on my wish list.

This doll must be quite large because the props look like full scale pieces.

And, lastly is The Magic Nesting Doll by Jacqueline K. Ogburn. Laurel Long’s beautiful illustrations make this fairy tale about nesting dolls magical.

Do you like doll books and if so, what are your favorites?

Bye for now!

More Vintage Eye Candy

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First of all, Happy New Year everyone! Who has gotten used to writing 2016 yet? This is the first time that I have written it, and it will probably take me a while to get it right.

I’ve had a super busy week with not much time spent in my sewing room. I’ve been knitting a sweater dress for the Little Darlings in my free moments. And, believe it or not that’s all the dolly news right now.

I was going through my photos and found lots more pictures of vintage goodies to show you from our visit to the Volo Antique Mall that we made right before Christmas. My first post showed you the Christmas items we saw at the antique mall. Here are the photos I took of vintage toys that I thought were cute, different, or things that I wanted to remember. I still have more photos of glassware, etc. to include in another post or two.

These are some teensy tiny structures. The building on the right looks like a 1960’s or 1970’s motel. I wonder if they were part of a train display.

Sewing machines… for the dollhouse,… as a toy,

… and another toy sewing machine. Did you have a toy sewing machine? I did, but I cannot remember it working very well.

Who would like to have a tea party?

This metal stove and refrigerator toy look quite old. Does anyone know about when these were made? The stove is selling for $40 and the refrigerator $34.

Aren’t these Joan Walsh Anglund bookends cute? I am a fan of her work!Hope your 2016 is starting out on a good note. Thanks for reading.

Bye for now!

Winter Weather… Finally

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We had that nice snowfall right before Thanksgiving and a very brief snow in early December; that’s all the winter weather that we’ve had so far. You can read about those snowfalls here and here. Christmas Day was sunny and in the 40s, but mostly it’s been cloudy and wet from rain, not snow. Today we are having a little snow, but again, it won’t last. I can already hear the sleet hitting the windows, then it will turn to rain with lots of wind.

Here are a few pictures of our brief winter wonderland this morning. It sure is pretty.