I am thinking of picking 5 or 6 fabrics and cutting little squares. I played in my EQ5 yesterday, and it looks pretty good.

No matter, squares,piano key borders or just regular borders. I always wait until the center is done. I measure across the middle and from top to bottom. Borders fit perfectly and quilt doe not need to be squared up.

I wait until the top is finished because I generally don't preplan my borders. My latest top is a BOM and I had enough fabrics left to make a pieced border but it took a bit of sketching and math to figure out the dimensions. I also added a floating border which has become a favorite technique for me.

I made "Another Links" border for my current quilt. I finished the middle medallion, then made those border pieces. It was really quite complicated. But those pieces do not need to reach the whole length of the quilt. There will be background finishing out the correct length. Now I have to figure out what I will put between the middle and the border. I think it will be really long piano keys with corner stones being miniatures of the center. When I get those corner stones made (that's what I'm working on now), then I will know how long to make the piano keys. After that is all finished, I will know how much background to add to the 8" Links border.

I agree wait till the top is finished.