Its a Sunday in August of 2023. Another scorching day at the local Vineyard Artisans Festival at the West Tisbury Grange Hall. I am in my 27th year of setting up outside all summer, every Sunday, to sell my colorful Vintage Fabric Handbags.

I look at my watch and notice its almost 2 o'clock. Time to pack up, load up the trailer and head home. Today was a good day. I sold some of my favorite bags to clients I have cherished for 20+ years, and chatted with new customers and Artisan friends.
I arrive at home, take a nap and our daughter and one month old grandson come over for dinner. I love this baby beyond measure. I want to be in his life!! And on top of that & after what seems like a lifetime in the Artisan world, I feel something tugging at me , like& there could be something else for me professionally & something different, but it's so abstract, so far away & I have no idea what it is yet.
I hear a little whisper inside: What if you took a year off? Or two?
Well, how would that work & who would source elusive Vintage Fabrics, cut and sew bags, work the shows, design a new product line, stay up half the night figuring out how to create a reel on Instagram?
No can do. I push the whisper away. And wish I could clone myself to do everything I want to do.
Over the next few months the whisper persists. And then in the winter it gets really loud. I am not willing to ignore it anymore. Time to make a decision, some kind of a move. I decide: No weekly Artisan Shows in 2024. Time to take a creative break, spend time with grand-baby and see what happens. Yeah! It sounds like a win. Over the next couple of months I find myself more and more detaching from SylvieBags. I think I may be getting done & And I realize I know myself all too well: Once I decide something, it's game on!
In the spring I drive to the biggest Antique show in America, Brimfield flea market. I set up a big tent for a whole week and sell off my stash of Vintage fabrics .
The summer feels luxurious. No craft shows, Beach time, long Sunday morning breakfasts with my family and strolling my grandson through our community with all the time in the world.
I make a plan to sell all my bag inventory .
I set up at the Labor Day Vineyard Artisan Show and almost sell out.
Boom, done, finished! Along with the business goes my identity of cool Vineyard Artisan chick. I am 57 years old and starting fresh.
A week later, I walk my dog in Oak Bluffs and see one of my customers sitting on a bench waiting for the ferry to arrive. She says to me:  I am so sad you are done with SylvieBags. With you stopping, the island is losing a big part of its local color.
It hits me like a ton of bricks. The island is full of local color! Not handbags, but people!! in my 30 years of living on Martha's Vineyard I have met quite a few of them. A lot of their stories are beautiful, inspiring, entertaining and empowering.
The words  True Vineyard Color  enter my mind. The podcast is born. Welcome!