I am making a quilt with this block now. I have found that a cream background works well. Moda has a pretty one that doesn't have any yellow in it. I like the two colors on the left also. I got two layer cakes of Moda's French General fabrics and found that the larger prints seem to fade out with the cream background, so I would stick to medium prints. One thing to watch for while doing this block is that all the seams after the initial seams are on the bias. Don't know if I would have tried this one if I had realized that. Using a lot of spray starch before doing any sewing. Should keep Niagra in business this month. :-)