Making the animals and birds quilt

I decided to use felt making as it is so tactile and provides beautiful colours. Each child was brought in to join the activity by a support worker, who taught me how to relate to the child and helped everyone feel secure in a new situation.

The children all reacted very differently, some were obviously excited by the colours others by the textures on their hands or faces. Because bubble wrap is used under the fibres this attracted more interest. The personalities of different children came through very strongly in the way they reacted. One put the fibres on his head like coloured hair and laughed, another tried to eat the soap flakes which became a game in itself, another liked best to turn the tap on and rinse the felt. Some children were capable of choosing their own colours; some needed help by being shown two at a time.

Comments from the children included 'Don't like baths!', 'Wet', 'Fluffy' and 'Had enough'. The physicality of working with fibres, water and soap encouraged them to touch either the support workers hands or mine.

Over the six weeks we made felt fish and birds out of bright colours and animals out of black and white fibres. I offered a session to staff at the end of the six weeks, which was taken up by a few and watched by others, providing time for sharing and discussion.

I took the pieces and stitched them onto pre-dyed blankets and made the story quilt, it is backed with heavy-duty cotton and has a detachable ground sheet for use outside. When I took it in completed one child immediately went to fetch a book because we had talked about the end use on several occasions, others just enjoyed the textures while one in particular named the animals. When I took photos with the digital camera of the children and staff sitting on the quilt I could show the result immediately, which he really enjoyed pointing to each one and naming them in the pictures.

The quilt made during this residency is used as a story quilt or just somewhere to sit quietly. The children involved respond well to symbols and repetition and the staff use it well.