Friday, July 1, 2011

Simple, modern shapes: Esch House Quilts

When we first came across Esch House Quilts, Debbie Grifka had just revealed a quilt called Ephemeral Elegance.  A few months later, the quilt became an award-winner, receiving a blue ribbon in its category at the 2011 AQS show.  Often using solid colors and simple shapes, Debbie Grifka's modern, minimalist quilts are fresh and original. Here are a few of her great designs.

Madeline, by Debbie Grifka, at Esch House Quilts


"Madeline" is made with Debbie Grifka's newest pattern, "Spell It Out", which is available in 5 quilt sizes.  A full alphabet of letters in upper and lower case are included in the pattern, so you can personalize the quilt by spelling out any text you want in the margin !  The modern baby quilt is shown below.  You can read about "Spell It Out" here, and about "Madeline" here.


Shadow Boxes, 60 x 90", by Debbie Grifka, at Esch House Quilts


This bold, graphic quilt with its simple-to-piece shadow boxes would be beautiful in any color scheme, and can even be made with fabric scraps in medium and dark values.

Third Street Quilt, 12 1/2 x 48 1/2", by Debbie Grifka, at Esch House Quilts


Debbie Grifka designed these houses for easy construction.  She says:  "I have always loved house quilts, but the blocks have too many pieces -- so I simplified mine to just six pieces."  In addition to this table runner, you can see a wonderful quilt made with the blocks on the Esch House Quilts blog.

Image credits:  Images are shown with the generous permission of Debbie Grifka at Esch House Quilts.