The solution just came to me

I walked into my sewing room this morning still puzzling over what to do with the red and green Orca Bay, and the solution jumped into my head.  It is something I almost did with my original mystery quilt but decided to follow Bonnie's instructions.

I swapped the positions of the green and cream star blocks.  See?

Now I can see green chains around red diamonds with cream stars in the center.  It all makes sense.  Now I like it!

(Which is good, because after all this sewing I was about to put it in the UFO, never-to-be-seen-again box, I was so disgusted with it.  Now I can finish it for a couch quilt at Christmas.