"Red December" Quilt

Esther over at Esther's Blog has an amazing red/white quilt pattern for her readers called "Red December" and it's truly gorgeous!  Sigh.  The last thing I need is another beautiful quilt to drool over.

So..I quit drooling and went and bought fabric.  I'm not doing red but browns and pink.  However; I'm torn on what I want to do.  If I do more than one color, will I lose the simpleness of it?  Should I just keep to one color?  The dark brown, the medium or the print?

There are four blocks shown on point with triangles that have part of the design on it.  I know the best idea is to cut out several pieces and play around.  I worry about losing the pink flowers in the design and it comes out just one mottled mess.  The dark brown is truly beautiful and would probably make a stunning allover quilt.  If I use all 3 will the contrast lose the entire pattern that one color does?

I plan on hand appliquéing since the design is gentle curves and circles.  I have no desire to satin stitch around all of that.  I can't stand raw edges so hand applique would do just fine.  I'd just back baste everything.

Or, just go buy red fabric and make it look like the quilt she has shown?  I had looked at several stores and couldn't find that "perfect" red and liked the idea of brown.