Thanks for all the quick replies! I will definitely take the advice to break up that long blue strip (if those pieces stay in at all).
I really do want to move to a neutral border that will frame everything, but of course all the creams, browns and blacks make it hard to pick one that won't find the pieces blending into the border. Which is maybe how I landed on the blue. So maybe just a milder blue? Or something in the reds (like the binding fabric in Pic 3?).