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.

Pukipuki my dear Puki,

How does your garden grow?

With gentle rain and golden sun,

She has blossoms all in a row.

Just in case it isn’t obvious yet, I LOVE flowers. One of my favorite places to visit is the Chicago Botanic Gardens. In fact, I wish that I lived across the street from the gardens. I am sure that I would spend more time there than not. I could see myself finding a bench (always in a different spot) and knitting and embroidering away the day. Sigh… It really is a beautiful place with so many different gardens. If I tried, I could not pick out a favorite spot. Sigh, again… If you ever visit Chicago and love gardens you might want to add this to your “places to visit” list.

Soon our spring bulbs will start to bloom here in northern Illinois. Pukipuki has gotten a head start on her gardens. They are blooming along the hemline of her mint green and sky blue knit dresses. Teeny tiny daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, and grape hyacinths are everlastingly in their glory on these dresses.

Sugar’s tiny pots of tulips were brought back from Amsterdam by my sweet husband. Aren’t they cute?

Sugar takes such good care of her pretty tulips.

For more information on Pukipuki’s dresses please visit my website.

Yeah! It is officially spring. We made it through the worst winter in recent memory. I am so, so excited for warm air, spring breezes, flowers, and lots of sunshine.

To celebrate spring I’ve made five new dresses for Amelia Thimble and Izzy. Each is knit with hand dyed fine lace weight baby alpaca/silk in the palest shades of pure color, no neutrals here. Each dress has a different type of hat/headband. I’ve left one without for those little girls with a hairstyle not suitable for hats. And, of course, colorful floral hand embroidery adorns each dress.

I hope you enjoy the dresses and the new season.