Hi XrayTech,
Your embroidered blocks are wonderful!
Here are my thoughts...First I would cut the blocks down to 7.25-inches. Next add a 1.5-inch border, I would use two colors for this. Then using two different colors place a 2 7/8ths square on each corner and sew as if you were making a HST. Trim off the block pieces that remain behind the square. I think this would make a distinctive border to frame each of the animal blocks. You might try coloring some samples to see if in your color choices if it will make a secondary pattern where the corners come together. That could give you further inspiration. You could stop here if you are just wanting to have a quilt the same size as what the blocks are now, basically, when they are laid out together. The block will finish at 8-inches.
If you feel you may want a block that goes between each animal block and a larger quilt, I would head over to Quilters Cache.com to look at other blocks. If you scroll down an inch or two on the right side you will see a check box for 7"-11" blocks. Go to the 8" section just a little down that page and you will find so many blocks to choose from. At this point you could even do sampler blocks that have wilderness sounding names to them or...sky is the limit here. Be sure to check the dimensions of the blocks once you click on them because some of theme finish at 8"x11" or something other than square. If nothing else, maybe just looking around will give some inspiration for the remainder of your project. Have fun!
Rose