Quilt Now BOM - part 3

The Quilt Now magazine's Mystery BOM is actually now well into it's fourth part with part five due soon, but I have managed to fall behind a bit and am just catching up with part three now.

Last weekend, after a very long no-sew spell, I decided I would cut and prep all the little applique bits and bobs for Reene's skill choice for this third section.  In spite of everything else that was going on, I was convinced that these little vines and flowers would be good to pick up and put down in between grocery stocking, Christmas cake baking, cleaning, ironing and all the other exciting parts of a weekend playing catch up on life.

I was right!  This was just the ticket for snatching half an hour's stitching here and there and by Sunday evening I had flowers, leaves and vines just about where they should be, all neatly stitched and the pieced into the border along with the quarter circle blocks from part 2.

I have tried this applique briefly before with a workshop at Fat Quarterly Retreat.  I loved it then but the time limitation of a busy workshop meant I didn't get very far.  Despite my best intentions to keep at it when I got home, that little WIP is still in a plastic ziplock bag (shame).  Still, I hadn't forgotten the handy tips Mandy gave us at the workshop and coupled with some info from Sarah Fielke's Craftsy Class which I have just recently watched, I was well on my way to getting a nice result from Reene's instructions for part three.  As a skill builder this re-introduction to applique has made me really want to do more (maybe in 2015?) so thank you Reene for re-igniting that spark and for this gorgeous design which I am loving so far.

To complete part 3 I need to add a solid border.  As you can see above, I have auditioned a pale grey and an aqua solid for this purpose.  My heart said aqua, my head said grey because the mystery aspect of this project means I don't know if aqua is going to work with what comes later and grey is more likely to - well, that was sort of my logic.  My heart said aqua a bit louder, so I invited the IG peeps to share their opinion and ... aqua it shall be!!  Except, I didn't have enough so I am waiting on a wee piece to arrive before I can finish off part 3 completely.  I know you'll forgive me that little delay and I promise you will see it there when I have my part 4 bargello style blocks completed. Do I think I can squeeze them in before Issue 5 drops through the letterbox? Hmmm, wishful thinking perhaps!