We shot the "winter" issue in the heat and humidity of August, at a beautiful log cabin on the Boardman River in Traverse City, Michigan. I usually show up an hour or two early to set up some shots before the photographer (Michael) arrives so that there's not a lot of down time. Even so, there are always instances when I'm still draping and setting-up after he catches up to me, so Michael takes the opportunity to check email. I was figuring out how and where to hang the Gratitude quilt by Debbie Kuehn so that people could read the lovely sentiment on the quilt. Draping quilts is harder than it looks, especially when you're only 5'2" and need to secure them well at the top.

The homeowner's very (very!) friendly dogs grew bored with me quickly, so Dink (short for "Dinky," official name "Remington") called "break!" and took the opportunity to bond with Michael.

Random tidbits:

I've learned the winter issues take the longest to set up because I have to pack so many props and set up a tree, wreaths, centerpieces, etc. In this case, the homeowners are big Christmas fans, but since they were in the middle of selling their home they opted to have me decorate.

You can see Katie Solberg's beautiful Christmas Splendor mat in the foreground that had just been shot.

The final Gratitude image needed a fair bit of photoshop work in the end, because there were so many power cords visible coming from the cabinet!

I always bring lunch for us and the homeowners -- I made sure to set up Dawn Heese' cool Winter's Night Punch Needle and Gift Bag during the morning session, so we could eat the delicious gingersnap cookies from her photo.

Side Note about Judy and Roxy in Do-Si-Do. Have you ever noticed that Roxy is always watching (AKA judging) Judy while she works on the quilts?