early level finish

Silver Tale is now my favorite M3 game (and one of my all time bf favorites). I just finished level 38 in relaxed mode (some times not so relaxed since there are a fixed number of moves). I have the gold ribbon for all the levels but this one. Oddly, the game just said I was finished before I got all the grass, etc. None of the other levels forced a finish. I have the extra moves boot, so that is not the problem. What am I missing?

Getting the badge is not mandatory, so if you finished all the required stuff in the level and then ran out of moves the level ends. You have to use the boots powerup before you run out of moves to prevent the level ending prematurely.

Thanks for your response Addict. I have run out of moves many times, and the option to use the boots powerup was presented to me at that time. This does not seem to be consistent.