I love the red, makes it pop. The red made me smile, the blue was blah, whatever.
I'm gonna vote 2, or even 3 sashings. Two narrow, one wide.
Red frame for sure, make it medium width. Then a narrow border..dark green or brown, maybe a dark blue? That'll calm down the red a bit. Then a wide outer border...in a red tone on tone, or red something anyway.
Have fun! I agree about applique...hate it, hate it, hate it. I don't have the patience for it.
