Now came my favorite part……adding color!! Since it was MLK day and an official holiday, I decided (at my husband’s urging) to take the day off from work and spend it in the studio!!
I first pulled all of my green fabrics that seemed appropriate….
but alas, there wasn’t an appropriate fabric for the dark background that I was envisioning.
So, I went shopping!! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find what I needed in the chain stores and our local shop has now closed (BOO), so I moved on to plan B. A phone call to Anita told me that she had appropriate greens in stock so I headed for a little shopping on her shelves, and came home with these….
The fabric that I had chosen for the background wasn’t quite big enough…exactly 4 inches short on one side so I picked another fabric (after many changes) and added uneven borders on the sides…..
Next I drew the bamboo poles onto freezer paper and got ready to iron onto the selected fabric. Unfortunately the fabric wasn’t long enough to make the entire stem so I glued the pieces together, making sure to place them in areas where there will be additional thread work…. 
….added a few leaves and voila…..
and I am out of time for the day, but it sure was a FUN one!!!
This should be good incentive to work hard and fast this next week so that I can get back to this project!!!