Bird Decorations

Hand-made felt birds

I run an art group called Create It! for Eden Mencap Society every other Monday evening and recently we've been making bird decorations. Last session we did some design work and then some felt making and yesterday we began using that felt to make the decorations. The blue bird was done by a guy who'd never done any stitching before, he quickly picked it up and did a great job. I love the colour choices and his blue-lidded eye. Next session we'll be carrying on and making some more birds, I can't wait to see what they come up with!

Work in progress

Design work

May Day Madness!

Detail of the van covering

Detail of the minibus cover

We won!

Parading behind the bus

Banner of painted flowers

I was in Penrith yesterday preparing for and then watching the May Day Parade. I've never been to one before and it was a glorious day, which was lucky as most of the van covering was made of paper! To explain; I help run an art group for Eden Mencap Society (http://www.edenmencapsociety.co.uk/) and one of the things we've been working on recently is preparations for the May Day parade, with a theme of Alice in Wonderland. We didn't have a 'proper' float, i.e. a lorry, so we decided to improvise by making a covering for the minibus. We used card board and paper and then went to town on the decorations; flowers, mushrooms, flamingoes and other madness. We also made various costumes and the guys walked behind the minibus, all dressed up and looking fabulous! At the very back they carried a banner painted with exotic flowers that we had an enjoyable morning painting. To top it all off, we won 1st prize! So, a big cheer to all the people at Eden Mencap Society who all put so much hard work in, it was all worth it.