Thanks all - I am going with b and I will stagger each border. Makes sense to me!!
Advice about matching is great as I want to mimic the pattern's sq-on-sq with 3x7 blocks interspersed with HST's or something sim. I am not using that pattern fabric - my daughter picked Windham Mary Koval Victorian Rose which is lovely but oddly enough for a Victorian doesn't have the traditional matching of stripes and florals. So I will fake the stripes with the background patterns.
It is easy to be confident when you are a rookie. When I did my first quit back in Jan I knew how to sew, so...? LOL
Every quilt I am ready to think about more of the universe of what I don't know.
Thank heaven for this Board!!!