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.

“Apple Season” is Fast Approaching

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I DO love fall (even though it means winter is not too far off). I think that the flavors of autumn are like no other season and apples are a huge part of fall’s yumminess.

When my daughter was young we would visit apple orchards and pick a bag of apples to enjoy at home. This was the orchard we went to that I remember the most. By the looks of their website it has grown a lot since we were there. It was always fun to walk down the rows of apple trees and see how each variety of fruit was slightly different in shape and color.

A highlight of our apple orchard visit was getting those “still warm” apple cider donuts with cinnamon and sugar sprinkled on them. Yum, yum, yum! Is one ever enough? No, no, no!

Sometimes we would bring home apple cider too. I love to drink it warm, do you?

My Little Darling, Gina, is the lucky recipient of the perfect apple season ensemble. Here she is to show it off to you.

It was fun creating her little apple slice crocheted purse. She can slip little found treasures inside too. I was thrilled to find a little bead in my stash that matched the blossoms on the dress’s print!

Gina’s little cardigan is knit with lace weight mohair/silk yarn. Tiny apples hanging from branches and apples lying in the grass amongst coordinating colored colonial knot blossoms are embroidered in a fun and cute composition on the sweater. I even put a tiny apple motif on the back.

For more information on Gina’s “Apple Season” ensemble, please visit my “Available for Sale” page at cindyricedesigns.com .

What’s Growing Around Here

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Since July is coming to a close and it was a perfect day for taking photos (overcast) I wanted to capture some images of what is growing around our house. I spend very little time in the garden these days, so what is growing has started up by itself with little or no help from me.

Our apple tree has quite a few apples, but sadly they seem to be dropping before they can ripen. I don’t think we will get any this year. Last year for the first time in 6 seasons, we had some for eating. I wrote about it here.

The yellow jacket wasps will be very happy. They love the fruit.

The maple tree has these beautifully colored “helicopters”.

A bit of leaf lettuce is growing in clay pots. My daughter started some seeds for a biology experiment and this was extra. We couldn’t throw it out, so we put it into a couple of pots and hope to enjoy a salad soon.

My husband and daughter went to the greenhouse and purchased some beautiful herbs. Here is a dwarf purple basil and an orange mint.

I dried some jalapeño seeds (I eat LOTS and LOTS of jalapeños) and planted them as an experiment. Do you see the baby jalapeño? I have four plants growing and they are still in shallow containers. I REALLY need to take 20 minutes out of my day and get these poor little plants into deeper pots, nothing too big though. I want to be able to bring them inside and keep them going under florescent lights when it starts to get cold.

And here are cantaloupe plants that started out in our compost pile from cantaloupe seeds that came from a grocery store melon. I dug up a few and planted them in the sun near the house. I hope they have a chance to turn into ripe fruit before it gets cold.

The violas, pinks, and lobelia reseed every year without any help from me.

My hanging baskets that my husband and daughter planted for me on Mother’s Day are doing quite well. Aren’t the flowers colorful?

So, that’s it for out and around the house at the end of July. It was nice to get out today and observe nature even if it was only for a short while before I came in and got to work on my new project. Unlike the apples on our tree, the apples in this print are looking quite delectable. Hope you all had a great weekend!

“Are You Ready?”

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Are you ready for the first day of school? It’s not so far off for some, and others have a month or more of summer vacation left. The public schools in Chicago don’t start until the second week in September and here in the suburbs the kids go back middle to the end of August. My niece who lives in a southern state has one more week off. 😦

Personally, I cannot believe it is time to start thinking about school starting up again, but it is.

My Little Darling, Gina, is beginning to get ready and would like to show you her new school-ish looking ensemble.

Gina’s lace sweater is knit out of natural colored lace weight merino wool yarn and embroidered with mirrored image rose motifs to coordinate with the dress print.