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I was inspired by an article in the March 2013 “American Quilter” magazine by Gwen Marston to try another one of her “liberated” ideas. Click on these links to see two other projects I had already completed based on her ideas, “Stars and Stripes” and “Wonky Baskets.” This new article by Gwen is entitled “Gwen’s Liberated String Medallions” and is from her new book Liberated Medallion Quilts.

I had some scraps of Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics left over from my “Autumn Drunkard’s Path” quilt I completed just recently. They seemed like they would be just perfect for the strings needed in this design.

The finished quilt displayed on my work table:

Gwen’s version in the magazine was a little “wonkier” than mine. I used an even number of blocks on the outside ring which I feel gives my version a little more “explosive” look, thus the name for my quilt.

Close-up of the center. I quilted “ferns” in all the neutral “paths” throughout the quilt. I did stitch-in-the-ditch and some straight-line stitching for the remainder of the quilting:

Close-up of a corner. I applied a faux piped binding by machine:

A view of the back. I had an “orphan” block and several sizable pieces of the three neutral fabrics I used in the blocks as leftovers. I pieced these together to use as the backing:

Because some of the hand dyes started to bleed on the quilt top, I felt I had to wash the quilt after it was quilted and before it was bound resulting in a crinkly, antique look:

Close-ups of some “fern” quilting as seen on the back of the quilt:

The quilt hung on my fireplace:

I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and Metro Embroidery Thread, color 1914-5 Wheat.