I argee the strip is a border. as a longarm quilter. you can quilt an over all design or quilt the border different, how ever you want to do it. Then when all is finished you add binding. look in the tut's here for binding instructions. there are some good ones. Remember when you go to quilt the quilt, the backing and batting needs to be bigger that the front, then you trim the extra off. the extra batting goes in your scrap bag for a scrap quilt later. good luck, sounds like fun.