There was a PBS show about what really is a quilt on over a year ago. Some guy was cutting aluminum cans into quilt shapes and thought his project should be allowed to be entered into this major quilt show. My opinion is a quilt has to be pieced with fabric have batting and a backing.
Cute umbrella, sounds like it would be fun class to take. Over a month ago, I saw someone had dumped their torn outside umbrella into the dumpster but I had no idea how to sew a replacement for it.