Manuscript Rejected

Prattle House 1415 was rejected by Harper Collins. However, the rejection letter was an extremely good one in that they told me why they felt it was not suitable. Now I have the option of taking that information on board and changing it.
I always need some time to sulk when I receive a rejection. That has been done now, and put in the past. The important task ahead is to decide what my next proactive step will be. I always find it difficult for a while, because there are so few publishers to approach. All the best publishers are either not taking manuscripts at this time, only accepting manuscripts through agents, or I have already been rejected by them. This then leaves the not so good publishers to approach, and I have approached some of those too. Finally there are tiny publishers that have little clout in the competitive world of book selling - do I really want to go that route? Probably not.
I have an idea but I will have to step a mile out of my comfort zone and do something dramatic!

My Book at Angus and Robertson!

I am extremely happy. My first experience of having my book in a real book shop - here is a photo of The Maria Challenge Quilt on the same shelf as Philippa Gregory. It is the Staff Recommends section at Angus and Robertson, Forest Hill, VIC. I'm stoked!

Book Signing at Quilters Bazaar

My, the days and weeks fly so quickly. There is so much to do - I need to slow down to enjoy it all more. It's just that I'm frightened I might miss something!

Sunday 7 February I went to Quilters Bazaar in Gisborne to help them celebrate their 1st birthday, which owners, Jim and Lorraine did with great style - and plenty of fantastic bargains for their shoppers. The shop is full of candy for quilters, with many different styles of fabric to appeal to all tastes and beautiful displays to catch the eye. They looked after me very well indeed, and I had my own spot near the front door where I was able to meet and talk with people, some who had already read my books, others who were learning about them for the first time. It's really nice to be able to chat with other quiltmakers and share ideas - I took quite a few ideas home myself.

Many thanks to Jim and Lorraine for looking after me and giving me the opportunity to share their birthday celebrations and meet lots of new people.

And as a post script, it was also the anniversay of Black Saturday which did not go unthought of in my mind.

No picture today. I've popped into bloggers' world to let you know I will be at Quilters Bazaar at Shop 5, 50 Aitken Street, Gisborne Victoria this coming Sunday, 7 February 2010 from 10:00 am until 12:00 noon for a book signing. I will take both my Maria and Elizabeth challenge quilts to display, and for those purchasing the books on the day you will receive a special Glenvale Patchwork and Quilting Guild instruction sheet for the Elizabeth Challenge.
For more info check out the shop's website at http://www.quiltersbazaar.com.au/
Hope to see you there.

The applique quilt

I'm back after quite a break beause I have not been particularly well, ever since I had blood poisoning last November - things went downhill from there. But now I feel better, and rattle like a pill bottle (is that supposed to be a sign that I'm okay?). It has been all I could do to get the basics done. Now it is a new year with new plans and new hopes, plus a lot of old ones still in the dream mixer. I keep adding things to my bucket list. How is your bucket list coming along?

I thought today I would share with you the photo of the completed applique quilt top that I teased you with so long ago. This was a secret project at that time, being a gift for a friend's 50th birthday. Now she has been presented with it I can reveal it to you. The quilt was made by 4 of us who patchwork together and is currently being quilted by the 5th person in the group. As the birthday girl was originally from South Africa, where so many flowers are quite similar to Australian natives, and as she is now very much an Aussie, we decided Australian native flowers would be the best choice. I designed the quilt and each of us completed one strip. The centre strip is actually narrower now, and will be filled with quilted gum leaves and gumnuts. The outsde strips of foundation pieced blocks represent waratahs. The brthday girl was very surprised, and very happy with her new quilt.