My first thought was blue, too. But it would need to have gray undertones. Maybe a print with blue background and brown designs.

The blue in the lower right block or the red in the upper left block. You could make the borders red, off-white, and blue increasing their width as you go out.

How about a vertical stripe often was use in that era for vertical quilts.

Blue-gray is what I thought of, also.

My first thought was gray/blue also.

I also would use a dark blue in a very small print.

Things to remember. Darker colors recede while lighter colors come forward. So the original used a dominate color for the strips. Keeping that in mind there are other ways to get a color to move forward in a pattern. One is to use a small print with a light colored background. That way it wouldn't "blend in" to much with your center square color, but would still come forward. Giving the same effect as the cream would have.

Another is to choose a color on the warm side of the color wheel. This would include color choices like an antique gold, or a pale sepia.

I hope this helps.

I am also color challenged. A deep red might help???
If you are in NE Ohio - I'm surprised you have snow - it's cold today in Michigan (north of Detroit) but the sun is shining. I may have just jinxed the weather - oops.

mabe a blue.

maybe a blue.