the maple leaf

truly a Canadian icon!  When Brandy Lynn (of The Canadian Quilt Talk podcast and Brandy Lynn Designs), and Monika Kinner-Wallin (of My Sweet Prairie Studio and The Needle and Thread Network), announced a postcard swap to celebrate the first anniversary of Canadian Quilt Talk, and Canada's birthday on July 1, I was intrigued.  When they announced the theme was maple leaf, I was in!  You can be too - the signups close on June 5 - read about it here and sign up here.

(If you haven't tuned into Brandy Lynn on Thursdays, you should give her a listen - always something interesting being discussed! And if you have not checked out Monika's incredible work, you really need to! see a slideshow here)

I still had some of the fabric that I had printed using (real!) maple leaves from a workshop I took at Quilt Canada in Halifax in 2012.  They needed a little pen and ink to emphasize the veins and shape, and then I trapunto'd the leaf.  Things were starting to look interesting, but I decided I wanted more colour in the leaves and background, so out came my Inktense pencils, and colour was added.  I then layered my piece up with a piece of batting, and proceeded to quilt the heck out of the background.  Trimmed to size (4x6) and satin stitch around the edges to finish them off, and attach the backing, and my entry is done!

Won't you join in?  maybe you'll get mine, and I'll get your postcard creation!

Happy quilting!

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network this week.