Sandy writing here after a very full and fun week of vacation at chez Cindy quilting retreat located in Columbus, Ohio. This once-in-a lifetime, by (self) invitation only event allowed me to experience the full sewing immersion therapy that I’ve been craving.

I arrived on Saturday afternoon and after a whirl-wind of unpacking, we sat down over a cup of tea to develop a strategy for the week. We wound up with a list of 16 projects that we wanted to tackle in our 8 days together.

We also got the chance to take a very special trip to Cincinnati — but I won’t be able to share that surprise with you just yet. But while we were there Cindy introduced to me Jungle Jim’s which is a fantastic international foods grocery store that is, well, a little on the crazy (but good crazy) side. What fun we had!

You’ll hear more about the work we accomplished (and it was a lot) soon, but I have to share another amazing experience I had when I got home. I drove home early on Sunday morning so that I could have some pictures taken of my soon-to-be high school senior. Since we had the photographer scheduled I thought it would be a good time to take some family pictures as well. The photographer, Lynn Brennan met us on the farm. I have admired her work for a long time and I was excited to work with her.

And this is what happened:

Can you believe she captured this incredible shot???

I’m racing to get caught back up at my pays-the-bills job because our student customers are arriving this week. I know I need to work hard, but I’m still dreaming about sewing!