Author Archives: Cindy Rice

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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.

Gracie is Ready

Gracie is all dressed and ready to show you what I’ve just finished making for her.  Do you remember seeing the marled blue/ivory sweater I was working on last week?  Well, it was for this special girl.

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I am very happy with how this little sweater turned out.  I tried something new by holding two different strands of lace yarn together.  I’ll admit that I was a bit worried that the embroidery would get lost in the two colors of yarn, but it worked out perfectly.  Since the yarn is busy, I kept the embroidery more monochromatic.

And here is Gracie is all her glory!  She loves her new ensemble!  It makes her feel like spring is right around the corner, and I do too.  (We even had a thunderstorm last night!)

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I am still loving this fabric that I received about two years ago.  (It reminds me of my grandmother and her pillowcases.)  I got this particular design in all four colorways:  blue, yellow, violet, and red violet.  If you click on the colors you can go back and visit the other ensembles I made with this print.  The collection is designed by Eleanor Burns and it is called Zoey Christine.

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Gracie’s new ensemble will fit both of Kaye’s MSD sized dolls although the dress will be slightly longer on the Mei Mei (Talyssa) body.  “Sky Blue Wishes” will be available tonight (February 7, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com.

Thanks for visiting with me today!

Have (or, I hope you are having) a great day!

My Newest Pattern!

Yes, I did it!  I put my most requested sweater for the Little Darlings in pattern form.  And it’s ready for you to knit away on.  Now, your Little Darling can have a closetful of her very own “light as a feather” cardigans.

When I was taking commissions this was the sweater everyone wanted.  It is knit with mohair/silk lace weight yarn, and is as “light as a feather”.  It is oh, so pretty, and is still one of my favorites as well.

My pattern gives you a total of nine different variations.  You can choose three sweater lengths:  cropped, mid, longer (for a slightly dropped waist bodice).  There are three different sleeve lengths:  short, elbow, long.  The pattern includes some shaping in the body so that the sweater covers the beginning bit of a gathered skirt.  It looks equally nice unbuttoned or buttoned.

The neckline edging and hemlines are all in garter stitch.  Like my previous patterns, the entire sweater is knit in one piece with very minimal finishing.

Here are just a few past photos of sweaters I’ve made using this pattern.  Please note that some of them have ribbed edgings.

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Long sleeve-cropped length

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Long sleeve-mid length

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Short sleeve-longest length

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Elbow sleeve-longest length

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Elbow sleeve-longest length

If you’d like to see more examples (I’ve made LOTS!) of sweaters made with this pattern head on over to my Little Darlings Flickr album.

The sweater pattern is available for sale on Ravelry.

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I wish you all a very lovely day!  The sun is rising!  It looks like we’re in for the fourth straight day with some sunshine.  Yay!!!  It’s glorious!  (I won’t mention the temperature, it’s COLD today.)

Thank you for visiting!  Bye for now!

Happy New Week Everyone!

As I’m sitting in my kitchen writing this blog post I see blue jays flying by, each with a peanut in their beak.  My husband filled the bird feeder this weekend.  I daresay they’ve practically cleaned out the peanuts . . . already.

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Look at the shadows!  We have a sunny day!  I know it’s no big deal for some of you, but it’s only the third one since January 14th; and we’ve waited 9 days to see the sun this time.  It’s amazing what the sunshine can do for your spirits!

My weekend work consisted of knitting this cardigan.  I wanted to create a marled effect, and I think it worked out rather nicely.  I held together two strands of yarn throughout; it’s a bit fiddly to make sure you are getting both strands with each stitch.  I got used to the “feel” when made properly, so when I would forget a strand I would know right away and could correct it.

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Knitwear is pretty messy right off the needles, aren’t they?  The sweater is blocking right now, and already looks neater.  I hope to get the dress sewn today.  (Ha ha!  Well, started at least.)  This ensemble will be for Gracie and Talyssa, Kaye Wiggs’s MSDs.

Yesterday my husband and I went to a dog show at the county fairgrounds.  I needed a happiness boost (after all the sunless days), and dogs do the trick for me.  When I saw the golden retrievers I got a little teary eyed though.  It’s been about 8 months since we lost our last girl, and I miss her still.

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You can see goldens are quite popular; at least where I live.  They were all over the place at this show.  A lot of professional handlers were here and each had many of them in their care.

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(Sorry, for the bad quality photos, iPhone and hand shakiness.)  My husband and I both picked number one out of this group of goldens.  They are all beautiful, but the winner had that extra something.

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After watching the golden retrievers, we spent most of our time watching these teensy tiny cuties.

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We are still new to Chihuahuas, so cannot pick out the winners as easily as we can the goldens.  The Chihuahuas are all equally perfect to me.  I’ll take them all!  Ha ha!  My guy wouldn’t be too happy with that arrangement.

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We also watched the corgis go around the ring.  We both were wondering where their tails were.  I Googled it!  The Pembroke Welsh corgis are born without tails have their tails removed a few days after birth, and the Cardigan Welsh corgis have keep them.  (Thanks for the updated information, Judi!)  We also watched the huge mastiffs and St. Bernards (who could miss these two breeds!).  Oh my goodness, those breeds are huge!  I need to be able to pick up my dog, and these days my back says the lighter the better.

Oh, one more thing, this was in my inbox from Kelly at livelaughrowe.com this morning.  I printed out the February calendar and have it in my studio.  These words are so perfect for “now” and  something I want to read every day in February. ❤  I included the link in case you’d like to print one out too.

I hope you all have a wonderful and sunny week.  Thanks for visiting.  Bye for now!