I appreciate your opinion & I wonder what the others think, too.
I considered that!
I was going to use a lighter fabric for the border (a pretty grayish silver print) but my other daughter said NO, that this darker fabric made the table runner more youthful. I had to cut the border larger to accommodate the pattern. After seams it should come out to 5" on each side, and the blocks are 9" if I recall. Yes, it's a wider runner, but her table is wide. Not extra large wide, but 40-ish, I recall.