Only 3 more squares!

I had a moment this evening when I thought I had finished my 48th square, which is the amount I was hoping would be enough for mom's afghan.
As I laid them all  out on the dinning room table, I found only 45 squares. Big fat bummer. But I was so happy to see that 6x8 squares will work wonderfully for an afghan!
I have gone back and forth on this project. When I went with my mom to pick out the yarn, I loved the colors & had no doubt in my mind that they would look fabulous together. Fast forward to when I had crochet the first 10, or so, squares I started to question my initial enthusiasm. The colors were not wowing my like they did in the skeins. That is when I tried adding the row of gray you see on the bottom squares. Once I saw the gray border I fell in love again!
Each square will have two outer rows of the gray yarn. I will crochet the second row gray using the joining as-you-go method. This will be my first attempt at joining a afghan together this way. We will see how it goes.
I hope you have had great so far! Have any of you crocheted a granny square afghan? If so, what joining method did you use?
God bless!

hannaH