Do April showers bring May flowers? I guess Kathryn have to tell us. She’ll need to be careful though because if she positions that umbrella the wrong way it will be raining sideways and, trust me, you don’t want that!

I knew when I saw the pattern that I wanted to use florals for the umbrella. I remembered that when I was sorting my pre-cuts I had some small floral squares that I had purchased from the estate of a Guild member. I thought they were 2.5″ squares and what I needed were 2″ squares but I was willing to cut them down. When I pulled them out there were three packages of 2″ squares. I have no idea why I bought so many but I was glad to not have to do any cutting. The remainder of the package I used, as well as the other two packages, have been added to my 2″ scrap bin.

I used a corner to corner line on the umbrella but I wanted something different for the background. I used straight lines that, in my mind, depict rain coming down.

I pieced the backing using more of that veggie fabric but I forgot to take a photo of it.

No surprise that the calendar block for March is a shamrock. And this particular shamrock may have a design option or a flaw – you pick.

It is nice to have all my greens sorted into one bin so finding the squares I needed wasn’t difficult. The cream colour in the corner looks really bad in the photo; it isn’t great in real life either but it isn’t quite as bad I don’t think. I continue to struggle with colour but I’ve learned something from this mistake and, hopefully, won’t make it again.

In a bag of scraps I purchased from a Guild member I found a number of veggie-patterned fabric already put together and ready for a one-block wonder quilt. When I discovered them I put them in my Guild donation bin thinking at some point I might make some placemats for donation. I’d forgotten about them until last month when I used some fabric with fruit on it and thought I could dig them out for backings for these blocks.

It took some work because they don’t go together into a square but I’m happy with the result and I’ll keep using them until they are gone.

Not a big surprise that for February Kathryn’s Calendar block is a heart. I swear I’ve made this pattern (or one very similar) in different sizes many times over the years.

Kathryn mentioned that she wasn’t sure she wanted to be cutting onions on her cutting board with last month’s snowman underneath. This month I used some food-related fabric for the back. And that reminded me of a bunch of food-related hexagons that I ended up with when I purchased a bag of fabric scraps (and I know who it was that snuck them in there!). I’ll have to find them and maybe put them together for future backings.

January 4, 2022

When I visited Kathryn in the fall she mentioned that she wished she’d had more blocks to put under the glass cutting board that sits on her counter. I had already started downloading a series of calendar blocks without any idea of how I would use them. They are a perfect size for Kathryn’s cutting board so, suddenly, I had a plan.

I used some curved stitching for the quilting – I wasn’t sure I could do it without free-motion but it worked well enough that I’ll keep it in mind for future projects. I did some thread painting for the arms – again a first for me. I wish he had more of a smile but perhaps getting back into the routine of things after Christmas warrants a grimace!

Kathryn will receive a new block every month – or maybe a couple during certain months.