I always add my borders before I quilt the top. In the case with a stitch in the ditch I would do my ditch stitching first & then quilt my borders last. I generally use a Borders Made Easy pattern for my borders when I can.
http://www.quiltingmadeeasy.com/borders-made-easy/
I love using those for my borders. Sort of gives a simple quilt a bit of pizzazz.
I'm terrible with free motion quilting so this is a good alternative for me.