Pull your coordinating fabrics for your runner from the soft pastel background colors for the blocks and use the brown as an accent color for a small border and then use a strip of the main fabric again as the outside border. It will be a softer look and have the images pop from the accent of the brown.
Many free patterns for table runners are at the different fabric maker's sites. You could check around and find one you like. There are so many runner patterns out there to buy as well! Visit a local quilt shop for some inspiration. That would be fun.
Red Rooster, Robert kauffman, Moda Bake Shop are a few on line places to look for free ones. Then there is the allpeoplequilt and McCall's Quilt Magazines site have free table runner patterns too.
If that isn't enough, you can check at the quilt shop chat rooms like fatquartershop.com or connectingthreads.com . All you are looking for is an all over print pattern. Then you can imagine your print as the replacement. You see? You can imagine your runner, or do a mock up on paper with snippets of fabric.
ps) The reason many of us use a plain border of fabric as the last design element is because it stabilizes the blocks and is Much easier to lie flat and bind.
Last edited by RedGarnet222; 04-28-2014 at 08:31 AM.