Your puppies are adorable, Carabubble. Scrappies are hard for me to judge. Short of taking out the reds, which would tone it down a little (but maybe make it less fun), I don't know what you could do. What color border are you thinking of? I think if you added a substantial dark blue border, it would all come together just fine. I think it's quite cute for a baby boy.

I don't know why you're not liking it, Carabubble. I think it looks lovely and cheery, especially for a baby- babies actually see bright colours better than the traditional pastels.

Personally I'd prefer NOT to have the smaller same-colour blocks touching the larger same-colour blocks, but that's me.

Perhaps you might try laying it out without that happening- the resulting same colour odd shapes might be what's putting you off.

Love the puppies. Try removing the dark blue and see if you like it better. I’m wondering if the bright colors are detracting from the dog blogs, which are subtler colors.

I like it! Audition a narrow border of black and then your next border and see how you like it. There is black in each puppy block so it isn't like an off color.

I am starting to like scrappy and am really forcing myself to do more, but I like a "controlled" scrappy. You might try using similar color values (like your darker blue) on each corner to anchor the quilt.

I always have the same problem when making a baby quilt, can't be fond of it since I'm an adult. So you have to put your baby brain on and look at it as if you were a baby and I think it will be awesome. I agree with Sharon that you might see if a frame of black or dark brown around the pup blocks would work, and also since the background of the pups is blue, I wonder if using a variety of different shades and values of blue along with the neutrals you already have in it would work instead of the reds and greens and yellows?

I truly think it's adorable and just needs a little tweaking. Those puppies need to stand out! As per the suggestions above, I've taken the liberty of mocking up some of the ideas, plus a couple of my own.

Black Sashing

White Sashing

Black Borders -

Multi-Colored Borders (with the thought of using extra fabric from the quilt) -

Whatever you decide, it is already quite a cute quilt. Good luck and happy sewing!

The black sashing around each dog looks very good.

Larri, you inspired me to fool around with my computer to see if I could put a blue border around the quilt. I know I didn't do it correctly, but I did get this result.

Just playing here and have no idea how to attach a pic but... what would happen if you only put a single row of scrap blocks between each puppy block and then a double or triple around the outside. It would mean that the puppies become more central to the quilt and they are offset by one row up and down.

Wish I knew how to draw it out for you.

Theresa

I would switch out the large yellow blocks for small, child-oriented prints. Too much solid (for me.) You have to please the adults who use the quilt, too.