Helping friend with quilt-need border advice please!
 

One of my best friends has taken the plunge and wants to learn to quilt! She picked out fabrics to make a lap quilt for her future DIL, who celebrates Hannuka. I drafted a simple pattern, and she made most of the blocks....and then she woke up 2 months ago with an extremely and painful swollen hand. Family doc thinks rheum arthritis, but she can't get in to a rheumatologist for another month! So she is on steroids and pain pills, and her sewing days are on hold. I finished up the top for her, but I think it needs borders-to make it a usable size, if nothing else! There isn't enough fabric to make another row of blocks-she needed to recut a few beginner mistakes-and we purchased the fabric out of state many months ago.
So. I am not happy with either of these choices....but I think it needs to be brightened up. White is too stark. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Edit: wow do those blocks look wonky on my screen! Haha! Trust me, everything is square-we squared everything as we went just so she would get the hang of the importance of 1/4" seam!

Maybe a solid dark blue in a narrow border then add the white, if that is what she wants to use. I think one border of dark blue will work. Maybe use the white print for the backing and if not enough of that, use the d-blue to border it also.

I'd use light blue first than darker blue. If you use the dark blue first it blends in with the corner stones.

I agree that the quilt wants a little brightening, but I'm not sure trying to brighten it with a light border will work. That might just make the interior seem all that much darker. It may seem counterintuitive, but adding a darker border, perhaps a warm brown print a bit darker than the sashing, might make the interior seem brighter/lighter by contrast. If you prefer a blue, I would choose something less bright than the star print. I would pin/lay a bunch of fabrics in varying values beside the quilt and take photos, to see what effect various border values have on the whole.

I think you are on to something! :) I don't have a lot of brown in my stash, but I think a brown and gold print really would brighten it up!

I really like that!

I like both your original second option and the last one with the brown print. A hard one to do a border on!

I would go with a dark blue tonal that matches the center square and then use the gold print for the binding. The brown print is too busy.

I totally agree that the brown is too busy-the brown fabric is just a small piece I was using for color.....we would need a rich brown with a subtle gold print, I think. The gold sashing is very pretty-has a tiny bit of metallic in it-I think the colors are much prettier IRL...
Thanks for all of your thoughts....will see what my friend likes....at least I have a few choices for her now! :)