Continuing to Clear Out 2020 Projects: Quiltville Edition

What I had planned  to do all this month is try to clean up or move forward projects started last year.  High on that list was finishing up the top I had been focusing on before last year's quarantine hit which is Bonnie Hunter's "Old Tobacco Road" mystery from 2008.  

I had gotten as far as finishing the center of it as Bonnie's 2019 "Frolic" mystery was also finishing up.  I had worked on this old mystery as others were tackling the new one.  When I saw on Friday that Bonnie's post for her 2020 mystery "Grassy Creek" was for its reveal (and which means the annual mystery quilt season is now over), it seemed like the perfect time for me to head back down the "Tobacco Road"!  On the downside, this is yet another hazard of COVID-Time since I can't believe the mystery period is already over!  Where DID the time go?!?!?!

I had stopped work on it last February because I needed to decide whether to just add a plain border to the center for a quick finish or to continue on and add the Flying Geese borders Bonnie used in the pattern.  I had already made all the Flying Geese blocks and since that was one of the things I really liked about the original design, I admit I was leaning towards that.  However, at that moment I had to break work on it to prepare to teach an English Paper Piecing class (my first!) that I was hired to do and then had to work on the top for a quilt with blocks decorated by a Girl Scout Troop.  Not long after that the pandemic went into overdrive and I was further diverted by quarantine, quarantine quilting projects, other project interests and traveling in December.  

But now, it's back!!  This is where I am today:  

 So now I am at another decision point.  I had planned from the beginning to use the Olive fabric used in that (narrow) inner border for an outer border option.  The debate now is whether I want to: 

A.  Just bind the top as it is now, preferably also with the Olive fabric.

B.  Add an additional outer border as Bonnie did in her design, also possibly in the same Olive fabric.

C.  Add an additional border but in another fabric, possibly a subtle print the way Bonnie did with hers.

It should be noted that I don't have enough of that Olive fabric left for either of the first two options.  Additionally, I had won that fabric in a de-stash giveaway many years ago.  The good news is that the name of the fabric line ("Shadowplay" by Maywood) was on the selvedge and it appears that it is still available in a number of places.  

Of course the challenge is getting just the right shade of that green -- the original line had two Olive's, a light and a medium. Some listings say light or medium, some don't and of course you can't necessarily trust the color as it appears on your screen.  To complicate matters more, for option C, I found another Maywood print called "Chrysanthemum" that also comes in Olive and I am considering getting that too.  

So I am stuck for the moment in a decision mode which means this top won't get fully finished until the end of the month or early next month and I can live with that.  The other good news is I have a remnant of a Thimbleberries wide back print and a lot of leftover bricks and Flying Geese blocks which all look like they can be the start of the backing for this.  So I am calling this one officially "Moved Forward"! 

Edited To Add:  The final border decision was made by the end of the month and can be seen here!

Regarding the "Grassy Creek" Mystery:  I was surprised by the look of the reveal quilt.  The greens and golds in the color scheme didn't show up in it as much as I thought they would.  However, that's good because if Bonnie's designs are one thing, they are flexible!  Since I like her color choices, I now see where I might do the fabric pull a little differently to achieve the look I thought it would have.  However, I don't even have "clue the first" of when that might happen since I still have a huge commitment to fulfill in finishing the other mystery tops and designs I already have in progress.  But a girl can dream can't she!