horst workshop in ireland

my lovely wee pitch at the campsite

i can't quite believe it was seven months ago that i went to ireland for the workshop with horst, it really has been such a quick year.

so, in the spirit of 'better late than never', here are a few pics from my trip.

it really was the most amazing weekend - it was the furthest i've ever travelled on my own, the first time i've been overseas on my own and the first time (and thankfully not the last) that i've been camping on my own.

busy, busy

i did get off to a bit of a shaky start though, as the ferry was late leaving and once we had boarded, the tannoy announcement to apologise for the delay also mentioned that the journey would take longer than expected as one of the engines wasn't working quite right.

the two hour delay and the five hour drive meant that i didn't arrive at the campsite until 4.30 in the morning, in the middle of a thunder storm! as i didn't really feel like pitching my tent i tried to sleep in the car, without much success.

however, i'm really happy to say that the weekend started looking up after that! the sun came out, i got a lovely spot in the campsite, i met wonderful people and learned so much from horst. in fact, by the time i got back to the tent at night i was so excited and my head was so full of ideas it was hard to get to sleep.

it was also a great opportunity to see some of horst's garments up close - unfortunately my photos don't do them justice. i really fell in love with the gold coat with the green dreads and it felt amazing when i tried it on.

unfortunately, i didn't get too many piccies as i was either too busy chatting or too busy working to catch up after chatting too much!

laying out the top part of my coat

laying out the skirt of my coat and attaching it to the top

attaching the 'leaflets' around the skirt

so many colours to choose from!

busy at the dyeing station

where we were 'assisted' by a friendly local dog

exhaust dyeing the finished garments

a small selection of finished pieces

and here is the end result ...

i cannot tell you how much it meant to me to be able to take part in this workshop. it was great to finally meet nicola who worked so hard to arrange everything, it was amazing to get to work with horst (you know how they say you should never meet your heroes? well, in this case that saying was entirely incorrect! horst is a fabulously talented, inspiring and giving person), and it was an honour to get to meet and work with gina, lorraine, kirsten, girda, natasha, sigrid, nessa, michelle, cristina and tricia. with big thanks to cristina and niall for the fab food that kept us all going through the weekend.

you can find much better pics here ...

from kirsten
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elisefilt/sets/72157627045592490/

and from nicola
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28367475@N02/sets/72157627013061886/