This block gave me a chance to try out a few new tricks.

I wanted to get the background to be more of one tone while using up different blue fabrics. For the most part I think I succeeded, although there are still a few that stand out too much. While being careful to get the blues right I should have had better contrast between some of those blues and the purples in the butterfly.

I used a new facing technique to finish the block. The technique is meant for a modern quilt or for a design that you want to float to the edges. Neither of those things are happening in this block but a smaller project seemed like a good chance to try out the method. I used a 2.5″ strip for the facing but another time I’ll try a 1.5″ strip.

The back doesn’t look much different from a regular binding but it is much easier to get the corners looking sharp.

It turns out that April showers (the Umbrella last month) DO bring May flowers.

This was a quick project but it needed to be if it was going to arrive on time. I was able to dip into my colour-coordinated bins of squares so I didn’t need to do much cutting. Aside from a few mis-steps attaching the stems it could easily have been done in a day.

The quilting isn’t fancy but adequate. I want to work more on getting the backgrounds (in this case the sky) in the same tone but not all the same fabric. There is always something to work on.