In our heads we know that, as artists, we shouldn’t take rejections to heart. It doesn’t mean our art isn’t good, it might just mean that it doesn’t work alongside the selected pieces. And I’ve had a good success rate so far this year so shouldn’t mind a rejection. Or two. But my heart rules my head when it comes to my heart so poo to being pragmatic!

My latest piece, Cadence 8: Flamin’ Nora has just been rejected by Quilt National.

Which is kind of appropriate as the quilt is a celebration of creativity in the face of life and other annoying stuff. I started work on it over a year ago and everything that could go wrong has gone wrong and everything that could interrupt production has. So it is dedicated to those days when blobs of dye drip onto your printed masterpiece. Those days when you forgot to add a colour catcher to you wash load. When you measure once and cut wrong. When your bobbin thread runs out 2 inches before the end of the last seam. When you spill coffee. When your beloved decides it’s a beautiful day and you should spend it together. When the phone rings and apparently there is a fault on your broadband. When the phone rings and it’s your mother espousing the benefits of cauliflower cheese. Again. When the parcel arrives and you’ve ordered the wrong colour thread. When your machine breaks down one week before an important deadline and it’s a two week repair. When that deadline is Quilt National and you end up buying a new machine ‘cos you just have to finish the flipping quilt. For the days when you get rejected. Flamin’ Nora!

Despite all this I really love this quilt, it makes me smile and I am so glad that I did get it finished.

I also love Artefact 5, another recent piece, which has just been rejected by Australias’ International Art Textile Biennial. Poo and double poo!

And because bad things come in threes I can also report that my thermal imaging machine has finally died so I’ve withdrawn thermofaxes from my website. Poo, poo and triple poo!

Thankfully I am one of life’s optimists and, with the help of chocolate and gin, I am completely over the bad news! Onwards and upwards!