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.

A picture perfect blue sky along with a sunny day is the kind of summer day I had during this photo shoot with Millie. It was a pleasure being outside and taking these pictures of her. I thought she looked lovely outdoors.

Millie finally got her very own light as a feather mohair/silk embroidered sweater. It is embroidered with sunny yellow roses and blue colonial knot sprays of flowers.

Millie is wearing her new wig that I ordered just for this ensemble. It is a mohair bob from Kemper. You can see it here. I needed to play hair dresser and trim it a bit because it was way long. Trimming the wig was actually quite easy to do.

Using the pool as a back drop added the most gorgeous turquoise color behind Millie. Secretly, I think she wished she could take a dip in the cool water.

Millie has a golden yellow blossom for you that she picked from the garden while we were outside. Isn’t she a sweetheart?

For more information on “Blue Skies, Sunny Days”, please visit my “Available for Sale” page on cindyricedesigns.com.

Phew, it feels GREAT to have gotten something completed today and the Little Darlings get something new…yes, again. I finished something new for Millie mid week, but felt that I really needed another wig so that the ensemble looked its best for the photo shoot. So, poor Millie is in limbo right now waiting for the mail service to do its work.

I spent a day and a half this past week working on a new styled dress for Talyssa. I am so HAPPY with how the dress looks on her and will finish up the other pieces of her ensemble this coming week so she can model it for you.

And, here is Gina, my Little Darling, modeling “Summer Blooms” which I put the finishing touches on this morning. I actually started knitting this sweater dress two weeks ago. These little babies take awhile to knit (remember they have over 10,000 stitches in each dress), so I would pick it up between projects. If I didn’t work on it this way, I would really feel like nothing was getting completed. If you’d like to read about my first fine gauge sweater dress that I made for the Little Darlings you can find it HERE and HERE is the second one that I made for them. I added a crocheted cap to this one; it seemed like the perfect summery touch for this ensemble.