gardening & sewing!

With extra time at home right now, I have discovered that I actually enjoy gardening. I have put in a decent-sized vegetable garden that I hope will feed us this summer and maybe provide a little extra to put up. Lots and lots of tomatoes, some yellow squash, zucchini, bell peppers, cucumbers, and okra. The girls are excited to see the progress and very interested in the whole process. Everything is blooming and many plants have started to sprout their fruit already. I can't wait! and I cannot believe how quickly everything is growing! I weed in the morning and talk to the plants while I stake them, provide support to heavy branches, water, and pollinate the squash - the bees left when the azaleas stopped blooming :-( Oscar, our old cat friend surveys the crops with me each morning and pretends to stalk birds (he's too old to do much anymore).

Then, after my yard chores are done, I get to settle into the sewing room and create beautiful summer togs for your children. Thanks to Linda for purchasing a bunch of outfits for her neice--she'll be the best dressed child at the beach this summer! Thanks also to Rachael for purchasing the baseball outfits for her girls. If you are looking for something cute for the summer, please let me know. I am busily gearing up for the trunk show which is Sunday, May 16th from 2pm - 6pm. New items will be listed on etsy after the show! thanks, michelle

custom orders and upcoming trunk show

Spring for us includes gardening, playing in the yard, spending more time on the front porch, and this year it will include my first ever trunk show! Thanks to Maggie at Textures Handmade Market, I am currently planning my first trunk show. Scheduled for the Sunday after Mother's Day, I will be showing lots of great summer styles for girls and boys. More information to come soon. In the meantime, if you need a special summer sundress for your favorite little girl or would like something cute for the little man in your life, please drop me a line. Several ways to get in touch.....email me at mackandmae@gmail.com.... leave a comment on this blog.....or click the Shop link to the right. I hope everyone is having a great week so far :-)

new etsy listings!

I have been busy trying to list new items on the etsy site. Please take a look. Just click on the link in the right hand column "shop mack & mae online" and you will be taken directly to my shop. I am adding new spring styles that I hope you love! There are super cute two-piece dress/tunic and pant set. Lovely 100% cotton in a pink and brown mosaic print. The pants are a beautiful white linen. Perfect for Spring! Mention the blog, and shipping is FREE!

At left is a 2-piece playset that ties at the shoulders and has the cutest bloomers! I also have a dress listed in this fabric but with chocolate brown trim. Very cute.

Later tonight I will be listing some very cute tie-back baby sets but right now the little ones are screaming for supper :-)

Take care, michelle

gainesville spring garden festival!

Thanks to all the folks who stopped by our booth this past weekend at the 20th Annual Gainesville Garden Club's Spring Garden Festival. It was a pleasure to meet everyone and I appreciate all who took home a new outfit for their child, grandchild, friend's child, etc. Your patronage means so much to me as I get this little cottage industry going! If you came out Saturday you were lucky enough to have a beautiful day of sunshine and perfect Florida weather. Sunday was rainy, windy, and cold :-( We will be there next year...same booth, #29.

New items will be posted on the etsy store in the coming days, but please remember that any style can be created using whatever fabric you like and many of the baby styles can be translated into a larger, coordinating garment for an older sibling. If you are in Tallahassee, new items will be in Textures Handmade Market tomorrow afternoon. I have lots of baby playsets that are perfect for spring and summer. Many with bunnies that would be great for Easter pictures.

A big thank you to Heather and her crew from Natural Treasures Plant Nusery in Gainesville. She was our festival neighbor and very gracious to share her plant knowledge with our daughters who are quite inquisitive and bothered her all weekend with questions about flowers, sunlight, vegetables, fertilizer, etc. I will post her info as soon as we unpack and I can find it :-)

Thank you!

a mystery solved!

My sewing room is in more disarray than normal today after a day of rearranging. Yesterday, my husband (who apparantly did not have enough projects going on already) decided to get to the bottom of a little mystery in our old house: "why don't the windows in the sewing room open?" To explain, the sewing room is actually an add-on to this old house and started out life 'round about 1873 as a wraparound porch. At some point long ago, the porch was expanded and enclosed and these strange windows, with the screens on the inside, were installed. With so many other things to work on in this house, the mystery of the wierd windows has been - up until yesterday - relegated to the back burner behind new roof, wiley squirrels, painting, invading kudzu, refinishing floors, lighting-challenged dining room, etc. I love this house. But sometimes I have a love/hate relationship with her. Last week on facebook, I posted about how we were putting crown moulding up and that NOTHING in the house is straight or level. The windows remind me why I love her :-)

I looked at the windows a couple of times and then moved on. They are beautifully shaped and pleasing to look at. Made well and very old. But there are other parts of the house that interest me more and, besides, I have suffered in this stuffy sewing room cursing whoever designed it for the last 8 years. Charlie, on the other hand, has been annoyed this whole time because he has not been able to figure these windows out. Until yesterday.

In the middle of moving a guest bed out of the sewing room (apologies to my sister for making her sleep in this room when she has come to visit - now ya'll get to share the girls' playroom upstairs!), Charlie decided to take another look at the windows. Inside, sanwiched between the screen and the window and hidden under years of peeled paint and Lord knows what, was a strange looking bent piece of metal. What the heck? Well, he pulled off the screen, took it out and also discovered that there are hand cranks on the windows!!! I cannot tell you how excited we were. The house and I are friends again :-)

Have a great day! michelle

we have a winner...well, two winners!

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first giveaway. I loved reading all of the comments and hearing about why you are thankful :-) My oldest, Abbigail, was selected to draw the name this morning, but the 'little one', Catie-Beth, doesn't take turns well and she decided to pick a name as well. SO, we have two lucky winners who will receive a custom garment. Melissa Johnson and Baseballtraveler. Please email me at mackandmae@gmail.com so we can get started on your creations!!!

Everyone who commented will receive 20% off during the month of November. If you are interested in a custom item, please email me. If you want to use your discount on the etsy store, please convo me before you pay so I can send you the correct invoice. Please check back often as the giveaway will be a monthly event!

I hope everyone has a great weekend. I am off now to mediate a dispute between my husband, a pellet gun, and some squirrels :-)

michelle

giving thanks, and a giveaway

Thanks to everyone who has commented, checked out the new blog and etsy store, gone to Textures, and patronized mack & mae. I am truly thankful. Terri Smith (http://www.terrismithphoto.com/) was gracious enough to sponsor a giveaway on her blog last month and we had such fun doing it, that I want to offer a monthly giveaway to my blog visitors. Very easy...just leave me a comment regarding the month's theme and at the end of the week, we will draw one lucky winner who will receive a custom garment. Many styles and fabrics to choose from. Retail value ranges from $30 to $50. What a deal. For your child, or you can give as a gift. Everyone else who enters will receive 20% off any order placed in November!

So, for November, the theme is Giving Thanks. Please leave me a comment on why you are thankful this holiday season. You have until midnight on Friday, November the 6th to enter. Good luck.

If you want to receive email announcements about mack & mae, specials, giveaways, etc., please drop me a line. You can send me an email at mackandmae@gmail.com with "email list" in the subject line and I will add you to my mailing list. As always, thank you for your support and for forwarding my links to your friends and family!!

Take care, michelle