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.

“Wishing for Spring”

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Hello there, my friends! How has March been going for you so far? Do you have any spring fever starting, or autumn excitement if you are in the southern hemisphere? I love the seasonal changes.

Lucy is most definitely wishing for spring here in northern Illinois, and I am right along there with here. We had some springlike days last week; they were sunny and warm-ish, perfect for erasing any of the remaining winter doldrums.

We’ve had 7 straight days of sun-filled gems which have been glorious! I haven’t taken even one of them for granted. ❤ It’s hard to tell yet, but maybe we’ll have an eighth.

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To celebrate March, I’d like to show you Lucy wearing “Wishing for Spring”. Her mohair/silk cardigan is in the most luscious green, kind of greenish turquoise. I embroidered blossoms in pinks and peach along the front neckline and shoulder area to this light-as-a-feather cardigan. They have tiny ivory Delica beads as their centers.

I knit this cardigan from my Little Darlings “Light Cardigan” pattern. I used the longest length and the elbow length sleeve instructions. You can find the pattern here.

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Lucy’s pretty cotton floral dress is printed with pink and peach posies and tiny turquoise/green buds. They pick up the color in the cardigan nicely. French cotton lace decorates the hemline, and a thin pink satin ribbon ties around the waistline.

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“Wishing for Spring” is a one-of-a-kind creation. It will be available tonight (Sunday, March 4, 2017) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

I hope you all have a beautiful day! ❤

Hello!

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Hello from soggy northern Illinois! How are you? I hope your week is moving along nicely. I am keeping busy with a few different projects.

Over the weekend I finished my cozy and snuggly Bobble Cowl. The pattern is by Joji Locatelli and can be purchased on Ravelry. It uses one skein on sock yarn. I used Knit Picks Preciosa which I hand dyed.

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I added three extra pattern repeats to get my cowl as long as possible. That tiny ball of yarn is all that’s remaining. I used a scale to make it easier to predict how many more repeats I could add—I added three. Still, I was wondering if I’d have enough to finish the last one.

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Previously, I’ve shown you the shoeboxes (2016 and 2017) I put together for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child program. Last year, I stumbled upon this video of Eva whom I haven’t been able to forget. She is 100 (now 101) and sews dresses for the little girls who receive her shoeboxes. I think she is amazing! Eva has inspired me to make some dresses of my own for my shoeboxes for 2018.

I found some patterns and measurements on Pinterest and set to work on Saturday to make my first dress. It took awhile—I hadn’t sewn any human clothing since my daughter was quite small, but everything slowly came back to me. I used to make practically all my own clothes, so I guess it’s like riding a bike.

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This dress was made with lots of love for the little girl who will wear it. I hope she likes it and can find lots of little treasures to put in the pocket.

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This morning I made a pattern so that the future dresses I make can be cut out without measuring each one; that was quite time consuming.

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My Little Darlings, Lucy and Alice couldn’t let me write a blog post without saying hello. They’re hanging out in the studio and having a fun day playing together. Alice is waiting for me to finish her ensemble so she can put on her shoes and be ready for a proper photo shoot.

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This morning, I made some time for puppy cuddles and making granola.

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Right now I have a load of laundry in the washing machine and I’m going to slip out between the rain clouds for a walk. I think I can do it; for now it’s 51° (11°)—springtime temps!

Enjoy your day, my friends! ❤

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Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Happy Valentine’s Day to you, my love-ly friends! Do you have any special plans for today? I’m afraid it’s work as usual over here, but that is fine with me as the sun is shining. Yay!

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The collage above is from 2014. Thought you might like to see it again, or for the first time. I was sure busy making Valentine’s Day dresses back then, wasn’t I?

What have I been working on lately? Well, my cowl is nearly complete. It would be complete right now if I wanted to make it per the pattern, but I’d like it a little longer, so am going to use up as much of the 100 grams of yarn I can.

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I finished my second pair of socks. They’ve been soaked in lavender wash and blocked, and awaiting for their recipient to come home for spring break.

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I’ve also been working on a new knitting pattern on and off for a couple of weeks. To say that the math was blowing my mind is putting it lightly, and really, I realize it shouldn’t have been that hard. Notice all the graph paper; things got a lot easier when I started using that. (Thank goodness I found some in the house.)

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I completed a Little Darling ensemble yesterday! Lucy is wearing it and oh, so happy. I just got finished with the photo shoot and still have to edit the photos. Here’s a sneak peek of Lucy while she was waiting (patiently) for me to set things up for the photo shoot.

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