I have had a very successful couple of years with multiple pieces being accepted into some pretty prestigious exhibitions but today I realised just how far I have come. I received my copy of the catalogue for Breakout: Quilt Visions 2016 which features my piece Ruins 4. A few days ago I received my copy of SAQA's Wide Horizons V which features one of my Storm pieces.

It feels like an unbelievable honour to appear in print alongside some of my 'heroes' - Gail Barr, Jette Clover, Jane Dunnewold and Wen Redmond. The selection of work in Breakout is amazing, Although the majority of artists are American most of the work is abstract rather than the more pictorial work that is popular in the US art quilt community. The exhibition is currently running at Visions Art Museum in San Diego. Unfortunately it doesn't tour which is a real shame as I would have loved to see all the pieces in the flesh.

Jette also has a piece in Wide Horizons along with some of my other favourites - Susan Chapman and Sandra M Newton. Actually I like all the pieces in this exhibition and look forward to seeing it at some stage whilst it tours in Europe.

It was my great pleasure to attend the first ever SAQA UK meeting held yesterday in Milnrow, Lancashire. SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) are an US based organisation but they do have a couple of hundred members in Europe and 66 here in the UK. Whilst the organisation provides some really great exhibiting opportunities it is inevitably 'US-centric' and it can be difficult for those of us making very abstract work to break through. Christine Seager, one of the SAQA Europe Reps, has initiated the UK meetings to provide more targeted support for UK members both within SAQA and in their endeavours outside SAQA. If successful she hopes that the model can be rolled out across Europe. I suggested Milnrow as a suitable meeting hall that I have booked in the past for the Etcetera group. And, of course, I took along my coffee pot! Christine and Gillian Travis lead lively discussions on what SAQA means to its members and how the UK meetings can support and promote the growth of a professional quilt / textile artist community. There will be another meeting near London early next year and I really hope that many more SAQA members will attend.

Part of the discussion was on exhibiting opportunities. SAQA currently run a biennial exhibition for members in Europe and the Middle East called Wide Horizons. (My piece Storm 2 (Dark) is currently touring with Wide Horizons V and I was delighted to get my copy of the exhibition catalogue yesterday!). Christine has fought hard and got two more opportunities for European members. The first is called Made in Europe I and will tour in the US though 2017. It is the perfect opportunity for European work to be seen by tens of thousands American quilters. The second has yet to be officially announced but will be Made in Europe II and will be shown alongside the SAQA Tranquility and Turmoil exhibition at next summers Festival of Quilts.

Over the last couple of years I have definitely found my 'voice'. Or my 'visual style'. Or whatever you want to call that sense of confidence that comes from developing a set of processes (or studio practice) that transforms ideas into finished pieces that are recognisably 'me'. I can point to three things that helped - making a conscious decision to work in series, attending a Colour Studies course with Leslie Morgan and moving into my purpose built studio.

I currently have two 'active' series. The Ruins series which has given me so much success and the Still / Storm series which still feels in it's infancy. In both cases I started by developing a colour palette then developed a set of printed and / or dyed fabrics. I collage and stitch samples during which ideas for 'full sized' pieces start to flow. Some ideas are very vague and require more sampling. Other ideas pop up fully formed. And demanding attention. Like the piece I am working on now.

I keep a list of potential 'calls for entry', particularly those without a theme or size restrictions. But I let the work itself dictate what size and even what form my finished pieces will take. And I no longer give in to the temptation to create 'one-offs' to fit a specific call for entry. This limits where I might place my work but sometimes there is a really good match between my work and a particular call. Such as the current SAQA 'Layered Voices' call. The piece is going to be 4 metre long strip hung such that the bottom section is draped and partially hidden on the floor. It will be double sided. And stitched with hundreds and hundreds of parallel lines. And every end of thread will be carefully sewn in. So shouted my voice!

Unfortunately my voice does not care that the call ends on 30th September and that I start a new day job on the 12th. Or that we are hanging the next Etcetera exhibition at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery this week. Ho hum. Better get back to my sewing machine!

I love creating Art. I love the dyeing and printing of fabrics. I love the cutting and composing. I love the layering and stitching. I even love adding the bindings, labels and hanging sleeves. But Art is not Art in my mind unless it is seen by others. And that means spending time on administration and on self-promotion.

On activities like writing this blog post.

On refreshing my website - I have updated the About section and added new images to the Hidden Message and Storm / Still pages. I've also updated the 'Latest Works' image with one of my minitature quilt 'Vestiges'.

On getting together with other Etcetera members to finish preparations for our next exhibition at Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery - the exhibition runs from Saturday 10th September to Saturday 15th October. Yesterday we used a scale model to work out the layout of the exhibition. We discussed critical details of the Preview Evening (Friday 9th September from 7pm to 9pm) such as how to distribute invitations, how much wine to buy, whether we should have music etc.

On researching potential opportunities to exhibit, on keeping my database of completed works up to date, on monitoring my progress on projects against key deadlines, on answering emails etc etc.

In fact all of the types of activities you would work on if you ran a small business because that is what being an exhibiting artist is.

Whilst I am enjoying a very relaxed 4 day weekend in my studio Linda Bilsborrow and Sandra Wyman from my exhibiting group Etcetera will be at Ryedale Folk Museum tomorrow (Saturday) between 2pm and 4pm for a 'meet the artist' event.

The seven members of Etcetera have created seven very different interpretations of the word 'Transitions'. Linda's Lifeline series deals with the transitions between different life stages - the phases of our lives that we all go through but cannot really see until we look backwards. Sandra has created a series of pieces that are autobiographical and represent a time of profound personal transition and self-discovery.

The Museum is in Hutton-le-Hole, North Yorkshire. The exhibition runs until Saturday 7th May.

The best thing for me about the Etcetera exhibition at Ryedale is the opportunity to show Hidden Messages 2 and 3 in their final form. Both started life as more conventional quilts, albeit that Hidden Messages 3 was finished as 4 banners. But I was never happy with them. So I cut them each into 12 individual 16x16 inch pieces and stretched over canvas. And then put them away as I didn't even have space to photograph them. But here they are now. I think it was worth the wait!

The Etcetera exhibition opened at Ryedale Folk Museum yesterday and will run until 7th May. The museum is in Hutton-le-Hole, a very picturesque village in North Yorkship. Admission to the art gallery is free. We will be running a few meet the artist events as below and hope that you can join us!

Saturday 26th March: Linda Bilsborrow and Sandra Wyman Sunday 17th April: Julie Bunter and Sandra Wyman Saturday 23rd April: Leah Higgins and Linda Bilsborrow

Here are a few images, more to follow.

Tomorrow we will be hanging the next Etcetera exhibition at Ryedale Folk Museum and Art Gallery. I've spent a good hour this evening walking around in circles trying to check if I have everything we might need packed and ready for an early start. Yes I wrote a check list a couple of weeks ago and have been diligently ticking off items as I have collected them but that hasn't stopped that slightly panicked feeling. After all it can't hurt to have a back up screw driver for the back up screw driver can it? And will one hammer really be enough?? And of course there is always something that is last minute - in this case it was getting handouts printed. I had planned to get them printed, collected and prepared at the weekend but life hadn't read my plan so now I'm sat folding 200 double sided A3 sheets in half. The things we do for our art!

The next Etcetera exhibition opens at Ryedale Folk Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday 19th March. All seven members of the group meet in my studio yesterday to complete our preparations (and drink coffee, eat cake and share our work in progress of course!). As always it was a good day spent in good company and it was especially good to see Sandra Wyman who has been very ill recently. Afterwards I spend a very satisfying couple of hours attaching mirror plates to my Hidden Message pieces. 32 individual pieces that make up Hidden Message 2 and 3 (12 panels each) and the 'Skyscraper' set of 8 panels. And now I have a bench covered in artwork (mine and others) ready for the show. Wonderful!