Category Archives: knits

Some of My Favorite Holiday Embroidery

Over the years I’ve embroidered quite a few holiday sweaters and sweater dresses for my bigger dolls down to the tinies. I thought I’d share some of them with you today.

I’ve embroidered lots of holly and ivy, evergreen boughs, poinsettias, snowflakes, ornaments, and candy canes.

This cardigan was made for the Little Darlings in 2016. I love the addition of beads and how simple and clean looking it is–just like freshly fallen snow.

This tiny dress for Amelia Thimble shows my love of pink poinsettias. The dress is only 2″ long, so this is one tiny poinsettia.

Here’s another two-inch dress for Amelia Thimble. It’s one of the many holly and ivy embroideries I’ve done. I love the mint green greenery on this one.

My Pukipuki who isn’t much larger than Amelia Thimble got this colorful botanically embroidered sweater dress. I love the addition of some bright colors–the fuchsia and yellow gold embroidered bows on the evergreen boughs.

My little sister to the Little Darlings, Boneka Rose, got this cardigan to coordinate with her ‘heart-shaped flowers’ print dress.

Beads and fuzzy yarn help to create this winter wonderland embroidered on Lucy’s capelet, headband ear warmer, and muff.

These colorful ornaments on the evergreen boughs were so much fun to do. I pulled out all my seed and bugle beads and went to town. This is the dress that inspired this embroidery. Oh my, Gracie has her hands full with holiday decorations!

And last but not least here is Amelia Thimble dressed like a Christmas tree. The bullion stitched ornament balls have a loop of gold hanging from the green silk ribbon.

I hope you’v enjoyed this little holiday embroidery picture show.

Have a wonderful week!

Hugs 🤗, Cindy

Let the Holiday Magic Begin

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This year I am SO ready to begin decorating for Christmas. On one hand I absolutely cannot believe it is that time of year, but on the other hand I am ready and excited for it. Are you feeling festive earlier this year? We already have quite a few houses in our neighborhood with their Christmas lights turned on. I think others may be feeling the same as me…???

Way back in August I purchased tickets for the Chicago Botanic Gardens Lightscape event. This event sold out so quickly last year, so I purchased the tickets on the day they went on sale. We picked a random date which happened to be this past Saturday. It was a beautiful evening–just cool enough and dry (rain had been predicted for Saturday earlier in the week). We got lucky because you just never know what the weather will be like on November 21st when it is still mid August. It was a festive start to the season… and so good to be out in society. This event is totally outdoors and everyone stayed far enough apart and wore masks. I felt very safe.

My favorite exhibit was the waterfall made with lights. It originally is the waterfall garden, but they dry it out for the winter. It’s hard to capture the essence on video, but trust me it was amazing!

Other news! I finished a holiday ensemble for Gina. Here are a few pictures.

Gina’s cardigan was knit with my Light Cardigan Little Darling pattern. I used the instructions for the long sleeved version and the longest body length. I added an eyelet lace design on the neckline and hemline. I think it worked better on the hemline; it kind of gets lost on the neckline. It’s probably because I had to add all of the missed increases right after the lace pattern. I also added a lace motif on each sleeve which I like.

Gina’s ear flap hat was the sample I made for my newest pattern. I ended up changing the pom pom from pink to red because it needed a little red to coordinate with the rest of the ensemble.

The Christmas stocking was knit with a free pattern from Little Cotton Rabbits. I made the leg 4 stitches narrower, but otherwise followed the pattern as written. It was quick but fiddly. I am not keen on executing a p2tog tbl. I think it only needed to be made a few times, but I found it very difficult and put me off of the whole pattern. I wonder if a regular p2tog would work…

I published a YouTube video from my past week’s work or so. While I worked on this ensemble I took video here and there. It’s not a tutorial–just a virtual visit with me while I create it. Please join me.

I wish all of you (who celebrate) a very Happy and safe Thanksgiving. Hugs to all of you, my friends. 🤗 ❤️

“Summertime Smiles”

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Do you believe it is the end of August???!!! Wow! It’s been a good summer weatherwise in northern Illinois–we’ve had lots of hot and sunny days–lots of beautiful weather to smile about. I hope you’ve had the same.

I recently finished a summery ensemble for the Little Darlings, and I want to share it with you. Lucy (painted by Helen Skinner) is modeling “Summertime Smiles”. We had a relaxing photo shoot in the backyard under the trees on one of those beautiful days.

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The creating of this ensemble started with the fabric. I found this summery floral in my stash and wanted to use it immediately. The graphic blossoms are in shades of bright pink, golden yellow, light aqua blue, and kelly green–all favorite summer colors of mine.

Lucy’s dress features tiny tatting lace hand stitched the the hemline. A thin bright pink satin ribbon ties twice around her waistline. Her dress is completely lined with white cotton lawn and all raw edges are enclosed within the lining.

Lucy’s knitwear is knit from hand dyed merino wool in bright pink. Her lace shrug is knit in a simple lace pattern with a crocheted shell edging. The beret is knit with my beret pattern and embroidered with coordinating flowers.

White cotton anklets, a colorful bracelet, and a two-flower bouquet complete the 6-piece ensemble.

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