need help with border, new QoV loaded

The other guys in Michael’s foursome cancelled out on Monday morning (2/24), too worried about getting caught in the rain….so he headed up to our course to see if he could get out, and managed to get in 9 holes with another 3-some.

Before I forget, could anyone please weigh in on what color I should use for a border (or 2 or 3) on this quilt:  

the sashing is black....if that helps!

Right now I’m stumped...I don't think I want too much red....but using the stars on the outside seems like it would make it very dark.  

I spent a bit of time on the computer, updating directions.  This was a new patriotic pattern for me: 

and as I revised it at retreat, I have to update the directions.  I’ll have to make another one before I decide that the directions are now absolutely correct (BG - remind me to send to you!!).  

You know, someone on retreat asked for an explanation of ‘leaders and enders’, since as a scrap quilter, Janice uses them quite a bit….it’s an easy concept to demonstrate, but hard to explain with just words.  The next day that same someone said ‘looking at your machine now is the best explanation of what they are’….so here’s a picture of my machine….I haven’t sewn on it since last night, but my leader is already there…ready to go…leftover from yesterday’s sewing:  

I got my next quilt loaded and basted: 

I left a scant 2 inches between the old quilt and the next one

YIKES!  I knew it was gonna be close....I got it basted with
3 inches to spare...

and set up the pattern and started quilting.  I LOVE this pattern as I can take a simple quilt (which many of the veterans seem to prefer) and do some awesome quilting on it:  

While that was stitching out, I pulled out another quilt from retreat.  I missed cutting just ONE 3-1/2 inch strip of orange, so could not complete it.  This is what came home from retreat:  

So, I got the strip cut and got 2 additional pink rows rows put together and now I have this:  

I just have to sew it all together.

Michael had pierogis for dinner before leaving for rehearsal, and I had a big salad.  I was so tired that I just vegged (napped?) on the couch until he got home around 9 PM.