Category Archives: Doll Hats

Winter Flowers

I know there are no flowers blooming outside where I live in Illinois right now.  However, there are flowers blooming here in my studio.  I love being able to create my own gardens and I love  sharing them with all of you.

Amelia Thimble is my little flower girl today.  She has two flower filled sets to show you.  I decided to change it up a bit and make both of these sets in understated palettes of color.

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For more information on “Winter Bouquet” and “Winter Roses” please visit my “Available for Sale” page on cindyricedesigns.com .

Rose Garden Promises

Right now in the middle of winter all most of us have are promises and hopes that rose gardens will again be in bloom to mesmerize us with their sweet scent and beautiful blooms.

In the mid 1990’s I had a rose garden made up of a couple dozen rosebushes of all different varieties and types.  They were my inspiration for my cross stitch designs.  I designed a series of rose bouquets, a series of single rosebuds, a Peace rose bouquet, and a design for brides using some of the pastel roses growing in my garden.  I still have stacks of pictures I took of my roses, but sadly my rose garden is long gone.

These days I get my rose garden fix from public gardens.  In the nearby suburb of Libertyville there is a beautiful rose garden in the center of town.  There is also the Chicago Botanic Gardens which is one of my most favorite places to visit.  I’ve written about it a bit here.  You can visit their site here.  They are even open year round.  I’ve never visited in the winter, but I’ll bet it’s magical.  And, if you get cold there are always the greenhouses.

If you love roses too, where do you go to experience rose gardens?

I’ve just completed an ensemble made for the Little Darlings.  It is filled with promises of glorious roses.

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For more information on “Rosy Promises” please visit my “Available for Sale” page on cindyricedesigns.com .

What’s Up with White?

White is in the air.  Is it the snow?  Is it the endless stream of cloudy days?

Last week I got this idea to knit up some Amelia dresses in different whites using different fibers.  Then, I thought it would be fun to crochet up some springtime hats in white as a basic to go with lots of different colored dresses.  Jeanne over at I Dream of Jeanne Marie posted about her white American Girl doll dresses on Friday (1-30-15).  See, it’s all about white.

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Giving a person who loves color an exercise of working solely with white is very difficult.  I realized that when I design an ensemble my number one thoughts are about color and how to coordinate all of the colors together.  When I started working only with white I had to think of other options such as texture and embellishments.  It took me a while to get in the swing of things, but I eventually figured it out and learned a few things from this exercise.

It’s funny though, by the time I got to the fourth hat I had to sneak in a bit of pink.

easter hats 840From left is “Floral Easter Bonnet”, “Pearls & Lace Easter Bonnet”, “Bit of Pink Easter Bonnet”, “Silk Bow Easter Bonnet”.

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pearls & lace eb 908

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bit of pink eb 905

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silk bow eb 907

silk bow eb 859For more information on Amelia Thimble and Izzy’s Easter Bonnets please visit my “Available for Sale” page on cindyricedesigns.com .