A short hiatus with a starfish

I have been away in Melbourne at a workshop. Sophie Standing has been teaching all over Australia, and I was lucky to be able to have a weeks leave from work and travel with a friend to attend. 
Melbourne was hot, we thought we were escaping the Brisbane heat....however it did not dampen our enthusiasm. We met lots of lovely like minded 'textile artists' and had a very busy 4 days exploring the starfish, learning new techniques and making new friends. 
The resulting art works were all so different.
The background is a 'duck' fabric - a heavy weave, which I painted before the class.

I am very happy to be continuing my "year of sewing red".

The class was at Werribee, I have never been there before, the hotel was very comfy, the range of eateries was very multicultural. 
I am very happy with my starfish, she does need some tweaking and finishing. I do have a plan!

Learning new ideas and techniques and watching and listening to Sophie troubleshoot with both my own and others' work was really interesting. Learning all the time.

I took lots of progress pictures, and am really happy I took the time to do so, even the back of my work.

 At the end of the first day, so much more to do!

Detailed stitching, Using the hoop is a new thing for  me, however it does reduce the distortion, I must explore this more

 The left lower arm, a little fun!

 

The back, always interesting, and a good way to see how far I have come, and how far to go!

At the end of the fourth day, still some work to do.

I am really happy I took the time to attend, so many ideas floating around in my head, and projects awaiting to be started!