Category Archives: Nature

“Garden Delights” & “Nature’s Surprises”

I hope you all are having a great summer weekend. We are enjoying beautiful summer weather here in northern Illinois. The humidity is low, the sun is shining, and for July the temperatures are staying on the cooler side.

Yesterday, I got my promised Mother’s Day visit to the Chicago Botanic Gardens. We usually go either at the beginning of the growing season or towards the end in late August, so this time was a little different.

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Today I’ll show you the photos from our first stop at the gardens. Please excuse the quality of my photos; it was a very sunny day. The Butterflies and Blooms exhibit was moved this year, so we actually noticed it and decided to check it out.

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This exhibit is a large screened in enclosure with butterflies flying all around. Flowers that butterflies particularly love are planted everywhere.

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The butterflies will land on you too. I was told that they seem to love white the best. I was wearing a darker colored top, so they left me alone, but landed on my daughter’s shoulder.

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These little feeding stations are set up throughout the exhibit. I think these two are dining on banana.

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The chrysalises are purchased and hung on wooden dowels until the butterflies emerge. Here is one that is almost ready to fly free.

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This visit to the Butterflies and Blooms exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Gardens was perfectly timed (not planned though) to show you Talyssa and Gracie’s new ensembles. I don’t usually make two at the same time for Kaye’s MSDs, but the fabrics are from the same collection and begged to be made into coordinating sets, so I did just that. I hope you like them. By the way, both sets are the same size so can fit both the 17″ and 18″ MSD bodies.

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As you can see, Talyssa found her own butterflies in the garden.

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And Gracie, found a little house wren that she befriended.

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Gracie’s “Nature’s Delights” and Talyssa’s “Garden Surprises” ensembles will be available tonight (July 10, 2016) at 7:00 pm CST, cindyricedesigns.com. Check the “Shop What’s New” page at that time for more details.

Studio and Early Summer Tidbits

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In my studio today I spent the day finishing the embroidery on Gracie’s sweater, putting the finishing touches on her crocheted cap, and thinking about the little accessories that will accompany this ensemble.

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I’m not sure if I like this wig on Gracie. She has always worn the darker blonde wig and looked cute in it. Although I think she looks more carefree and summery with the light blonde curls, I’m still not sure. What do you think?

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A few posts ago, I promised to take some photos to show you what is in my studio display cabinet. I have this little collection (my daughter’s) of blown glass animals (and a lone heart) that I keep in here. A couple pieces are ornaments and some pieces we found at a resale shop. The little vintage poodle is one of the three items I have that belonged to my grandmother (my dad’s mother) who passed away before I was born. I don’t have any memories of her, but I remember these types of things being around my grandpa’s house when I was young. This poodle most likely was part of this set that I pinned on Pinterest. I think I mentioned the potted tulips before; my husband brought them back from Holland.

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I found this needlework that I had made for my grandparents at my parent’s house. At first, I didn’t remember it, but then the memories of it started coming back to me. I must have embroidered it in grade school as it is a bit . . . hmm, messy? Look how my grandfather framed it; now scroll down and look at the back! He was a very frugal man, and used what he had on hand. I love that about him.

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Outside things are looking very, very lush, and green. When we returned from Florida we had some cute clover patches growing in our lawn. I kiddingly mentioned to my husband that we should leave them for the bees. Well, he did just that! (I can only imagine how nutty our neighbors think we are.) When I am out walking I see a couple of hives set up, so I am sure the bees appreciate us growing the clover for them; they need all the help they can get these days. Not sure how long we should let it get though.

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Our easy peasy rosebushes are blooming, as are the violas.

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These teen tiny biennials were here when we moved into our house 8 years ago. They keep reseeding, and will bloom during their second season. I don’t know what kind of flower they are, but they smell like carnations or pinks.

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Our lavender blossomed hostas are getting ready to bloom.

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I’ve never noticed acorns at this early stage before. Aren’t they tiny!

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And last, but not least, a few apples growing on our apple tree. They are about the size of small limes.

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We had a rare low humidity day today, just wonderful; I kept the windows open all day long. Tomorrow, however, a change is coming—storms followed by a cold front. The weather is never boring here in northern Illinois.

I hope you all had an equally beautiful day. Thanks for visiting. Bye for now.

After Four Days

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Yet again the same old story, after four days of rain and dreariness, the sun came out this afternoon. One of these days I need to pack up and move to an area where the sun shines more than every fourth day. LOL! Anyway, it was so nice to see the sun, so I grabbed my camera. I have more outdoor photos to show you.

First, I have some indoor progress to show you. Gracie’s sweater is coming along nicely. I will probably add one or two more motifs–smaller though. I feel that these two motifs are off balance right now. I will sleep on it, and in the morning be able to figure out what it needs, I hope. That’s usually the way it works when I am stuck.

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