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.

My First Holiday (Christmas) Ensemble of the Season

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My first holiday ensemble is all ready to show you! I started my holiday creating by using my favorite fabric first, not saving it for one of the last like I did last year. And, it just so happens that the color palette is a little bit fallish, so it is indeed the perfect one to start with.

Isn’t this fabric cute? There are so many adorable motifs in this primitive looking print, boring it is not. And, even though the colors are muted it is still quite colorful. Yes, it is my most favorite holiday or Christmas fabric that I’ve purchased so far this year.

I had the perfect shade of wool yarn for knitting the sweater and hat. It matches the rosy color beautifully. I picked out the blue and green in the print and added bits of those colors throughout the ensemble for extra “colorfulness”.

The fabric I had for the tights was a bit too rosy, so I over dyed them in an ivory dye bath. They came out perfect.

Oh, it looks like Gina has a little present for you!

For more information on Gina’s “A Heartwarming Holiday” ensemble, please visit my “Available for Sale” page on cindyricedesigns.com.

Bye for now! Hope you enjoyed seeing my first holiday set of the season.

And the Winners Are…

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Firstly, thank you to everyone for your kind and encouraging comments about my last 30 days of daily blogging. It has been fun and, reflecting back I have found that I have lived my life more in the moment. After all, you never know what will make it into a blog post.

Now for the winners of the Craftsy classes. I wrote everyone’s name on a piece of paper and folded it 3 times, so we couldn’t possibly peek! (That’s no fun!) I put the names in a basket—my daughter mixed them up and pulled out two names.

And the first winner is…

The second winner is…

So the two winners are:

Congrats to Rita and Margay! I wish you all could have won, but thank you for playing along.

Rita and Margay, I will forward you both the email from Craftsy so you can choose your free class.

Now, for a change of subject…

Today, I looked up at the sky and realized there wasn’t a cloud to be seen anywhere. We’ve had so many cloudy days lately that it seemed so strange to see zero clouds in the sky, not even a tiny speck of a cloud; the sky was simply painted in shades of blue, really so beautiful.

See, not a cloud anywhere!

And…

How do you get a teenager out of bed early on a Sunday morning (so she can do homework)?

Make her chocolate chip pancakes! It worked!

Hope you all have a great week!

Bye for now!

Today is the Last Day

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Today is the last day to add a comment to be entered to win one of the two Craftsy class giveaways. If you missed yesterday’s post, you can read it here. Feel free to comment on this post or yesterday’s post, either will get you entered.

Yesterday I got a few things finished. Do you remember the sweater that I showed you with the embroidered poinsettia? That ensemble is all completed! I crocheted a little Christmas stocking to go with it too, so fun. I need to get photos taken… here’s the poinsettia embroidery on the sweater again.

Millie’s ensemble is in the works. Like the sweater pictured above, I also made Millie a winter white mohair sweater. It will be a great “canvas” for the embroidery and brighten up the fabric. I added a row of winter white fine English cotton Cluny lace to the skirt to help tie the two pieces together. That’s all I have done on Millie’s outfit so far.

I’ve started an ensemble for Patience too. I just started that one, so I’ll have to share photos later.

We had a beautiful sunset yesterday evening.

Our house faces the east, so as I stood on our front porch I saw the trees in our front yard lit up by the setting sun, so magical.

Remember to add a comment to win one of the two free Craftsy classes. I’ve purchased quite a few Craftsy classes and enjoy them all. Even if I don’t make what they are making, it is fun to watch the teachers share what they know and are so passionate about. The classes are yours to view again and again, like a video class library. Also, you can ask the teacher a question and she will get back to you with an answer.

I talked about my newest Craftsy class addition last week when I started knitting in the round. You can read about my knitting in the round journey here and here. I’ve made two Santa hats in the round so far!

Bye for now!