Well after all that angst

the backing fabric that looked like this

turned out to be just fine.  

A good trim and a few other rotary cuts 

and I had this

a beautiful border fabric that you can't find the join in.

The rest of the trimming will come just before it goes on the frame.

TIP:  I'm not going to take credit for this idea.  I saw it on Instagram days ago and scrolling back I can't give credit to the gal that came up with it

Take a piece of cardstock

Cut it in half, so that you have two pieces measuring 4 1/4" x length which is 11". 

Take one piece and carefully fold it in half.  I used my paper rotary cutter and very lightly marked so the fold would be easier to do.  It has to be done very lightly or you will cut the cardboard.  

Find some scraps of the fabric from the quilt top you have just made.  I desperately wanted the name of the fabric line, so really had to dig for it.  Trim them up starting with about 3" long and give it width to start with.

Mine were way too wide, so I did some trimming to make it look better. I also kept specific parts of each piece of the fabric.  Note the animals are missing.  They were a little big.  Maybe I'll glue one to the inside later.

I decided to glue each end of the pieces to the cardstock.  I didn't measure the layout, I just did it.

I chose a co-ordinating thread, marked very lightly down the middle of the pieces of fabric, then stitched it down with a 1.5 stitch length.  Leave a tail of thread at the top, but I did re-enforce my stitching top and bottom.

Write your own message inside and you have a card to give along with the quilt. 

I was going through my screenshots and lo and behold there was the post.  MissAndreaQuilts on Instagram posted this idea.   To use the link you must be on Instagram.  Sorry.