Color Splash Dresden

I just realized that I never recorded the COLOR SPLASH quilts I made for my daughter and her hubby. Almost as soon as I became a quilt newbie, my girlfriends took me on my first road trip to meet the people at the Missouri Star Quilt Company.
I was so impressed with their friendliness and enthusiasm for quilting and people. Almost as soon as I returned home, I looked up their website and became a member. Before I knew it, I had joined my first Block Swap in their Forum Groups.
My very first challenge was making the Black &White Dresden Block  and decided to take that color scheme to make a quilt of my own. I purchased more black & white fabrics and some white on white for the background. I cut many Dresden blades and assembled them in sets of five in the corners of 10" blocks. I finished each fan off with the same "color splash".
Each block was 1/4 of the Dresden circle.
Instead of circles, I decided to place the fans together in bow tie shapes so that each color splash section touched noses. The centering of the color enhanced each fan, making a very feminine display on the white blocks.
Finally, I bordered the assembled blocks with 3" of color splash fabric, emphasizing even more of the color.
Quilting simply was outlining each Dresden blade with variegated thread, which was simply gorgeous, bringing out more color all around!

With left over blades and fabric, I decided to make a quilt for my tall SIL. I didn't want the exact same fan look, and wished for something a little more masculine. So, I cut out some solid black on black 10" squares. On others, not knowing the real technique, I cut colored fabric the size I liked, and then, kept adding black to their sides until I ended up with nice looking 10" square in a square blocks!
Stretching the blocks on my LR carpet, I admired the black, and began throwing the little "ties" randomly on the black spaces.
I loved the shape it began to take. Once blocks looked balanced, I assembled the blocks. I applied more "ties" across block seams, filling in large connecting "too much" black spaces.
I decided to hand quilt this one with the variegated thread and just put free-hand drawn swirls randomly on the black for my quilting design. Finishing with a black backing and color splashed binder, my SIL's quilt is heavy and I think, looking quite masculine! 

Hopefully, when winter winds blow, my "kids" will warmly cuddle under their splash of color quilts and enjoy the design created by a mom that loves them dearly!