The idea had crossed my mind to use the floral batik for the stars and the newest dark fabric for the outer border, but it wasn't until I read Jackie's comment in which she mentioned the same thing that I thought I better give that idea further consideration. The main reason I hesitated to make floral stars was that I thought they'd be lost against the busy light-blue background fabric. Solution: don't use the busy light-blue background fabric! So I laid out a block puzzle-style (no sewing) on some cream-on-cream tiny dot fabric I had to see how it looked, and I love it!
I don't have enough of the cream background fabric to finish the quilt, so I'll stop by my local Fabric Depot with my 40% off coupon tonight to look for more of the dots or something else that will work just as well. And I may swap out the dark green large corner blocks with something more subtle. But I think I'm there, which makes working on a quilt so much more fun.
Thank you, Jackie (no blog?)! And to Wendy, too, who suggested going with a scrappy look for the stars -- I adore scrappy quilts, but for this particular project I wanted the floral batik to take center stage. And thanks to my BFF Jane (no blog), who suffers through my endless self-doubting when it comes to this hobby we both enjoy. She has to listen, or I won't let her borrow my walking foot. Ha!
Me,
Jane