Category Archives: Blog Hop

Join Me For The Blog Tour and Win Free Patterns!

facebook-in-advance-volume-14This is sooo exciting! This Wednesday, November 16, is the BLOG TOUR for the new volume of Quiltmakers 100 Blocks magazine. If you visit this website on Wednesday, you can win free patterns from Made By Marney, as well as great give-aways from Quiltmaker.

I will be giving away  free patterns to 2 lucky winners on November 16. Just visit this website and LEAVE A COMMENT.  I need the comment to be able to contact you if you are a winner!

Here are the 2 patterns that will be given away.

Cats N' Dogs Quilt
Cats N’ Dogs Quilt

This quilt is by far my best seller. Everyone LOVES their pets and these pets are so expressive and fun!

FullSizeRenderFarmyard Stars Quilt

The 12 farm animals in this quilt are named after celebrities. For example, the cow is “Demi Moo” and the Cat is “Kitty Purry”. You will have to see the pattern to find out the others…

Can’t wait until Wednesday when I will be revealing my block for the Quiltmaker’s magazine, Volume 14. Until then, it’s a secret…

Please join me then, and don’t forget to LEAVE A COMMENT to be eligible for great pattern prizes!

volume-14-joinforblogtour14_200

Blog Hoppin’ with Made By Marney AND a Chance to Win a Free Pattern

Hello and welcome to my website! I’m Mary; a mom, teacher, pattern designer and owner of Made By Marney. I use my blog to promote my new designs and for tutorials.

small version of mary by shedI retired from teaching art 5 years ago and took a job in a local quilt shop. The shop had no paper pieced patterns, which I love, so I started designing patterns to sell at the shop. Soon I found myself selling to other shops, then selling through a national distributor, and now I’m writing 2 books on paper pieced patterns that will be published in 2017.

IMG_1334One of my fun accomplishments for this year was being included in the Quiltmakers 100 Blocks magazine. I was thrilled to be included in this periodical because I am a newbie to pattern design, having only been doing it for the past 3 years.

I design paper pieced blocks for quilts, pillows, totes, potholders…you name it. Here are some of my favorite designs.

Cats N' Dogs Quilt
Cats N’ Dogs Quilt
Forest Friends
Forest Friends
Cow-Abunga Quilt
Cow-Abunga Quilt

As you can see, I love to design wonky animals! Probably from all those years teaching elementary art. Kids art really rubs off on a person.

I started designing paper pieced patterns after retiring from teaching art at an elementary school in Wisconsin. I enjoy the creative process. Paper piecing is like putting together a puzzle and I love puzzles. When creating a design, all the curved lines have to be changed into straight lines. That abstracts the design to some extent. See an example of this in the two monkeys pictured below. The second monkey is the way I would draw him normally. The first monkey has been changed to straight lines that can be paper pieced easily. You can even see that I have started to number the pieces in the order they could be paper pieced.

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My friends are always asking me to make them really EASY blocks, that will go together quickly. The easier the block becomes, the more abstract it becomes.

If you leave a comment on this post this week, I will choose 1 commentor as the winner of a free pattern from my Etsy shop…the pattern of your choice! You must leave a comment to be considered in the drawing, so I will be able to contact the winner by email.

Please visit our fearless leaders this week, too.

AND visit the other blogs on the tour this week:

Blog Hop Week 4 – July 18th

Jennifer @Dizzy Quilter

Seven @The Concerned Craft

Mary @Made By Marney

Amanda @Quiltologie

Thanks for stopping by…and don’t forget to leave a comment if you want a chance to win a free paper pieced pattern of your choosing!