Another choice that I didn't find is to make the steps go down on the left but back up on the right. Sort of a "heart" design. Border? At first I didn't see the blue as it's pretty light but the pink next to the pink of the steps is a bit much. It may look different in real time. Have you tried the pattern fabric as the border? Do you have a bit of the darker mauve that's in the patterned fabric?