FREE PATTERNS! As a “thank you” to my loyal visitors, these paper pieced block patterns are free.
Fraidy Cat
Batty Bat
Haunted House
All the blocks measure 8″x 8″ unfinished. I have sewn my blocks into potholders. The patterns are JUST the blocks. What you make them into is up to you! They would be great pillows, wallhangings, or even could be used in a Halloween quilt.
This easy to paper piece quilt is filled with delightful jungle animals!
I can’t decide which bird is my favorite…
but there are 4 to choose from: Macaw, Toucan, Parrot and Flamingo.
But my absolute favorite is the zebra! This quilt was inspired by the lovely zebra print fabric! One look at this luscious fabric and I knew my next quilt was going to be all jungle animals.
This pattern is available for instant download on Etsy.
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.
I 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.
One 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.
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.
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.
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!
Farmyard Stars is my favorite quilt to date! It brings back fond memories of growing up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin.
Because all the animals are stars to me, I have named them after celebrities. This is Demi Moo the cow.
And this is Pig-Casso the pig!
Also meet Kitty Purry, the cat!
And here’s Pony Danza, the horse! The fun goes on and on… You will have to purchase the entire pattern to meet all 12 funky farm friends. This quilt would be an excellent Block of The Month project. Available on my Etsy site and on Craftsy.
“ROAR”, the paper pieced lion, is the second quilt from a series of jungle animal quilts that I am designing. He is so adorable! This is a very easy quilt to assemble.
The lion consists of 4 blocks put together, and the letters are super easy.
“Roar” would be a great buddy for your child to cuddle.
Pattern available in PDF or hard copy on Etsy
What a happy herd of giraffes. Paper piece this sweet quilt with fast and easy blocks. This quilt would be adorable in any child’s room!
Each giraffe is constructed from two 8″x 8″ paper pieced blocks. Using 1″ wide rick rack for their mane makes the piecing fast and easy.
The giraffe blocks can be used for other fun projects, too.
Here is my son, Brady, holding a cute pillow. Who doesn’t love giraffes!
This digital or hard copy pattern can be found at Made By Marney on Etsy.
The Mermaid Quilt measures 41″x 41″ and would look adorable on your little girls wall! This quilt could easily become larger with the addition of extra borders. The outer border is comprised of 1 charm pack. I used Moda Charm Pack “Grow”. It has lovely little girl colors and will coordinate with lots of different decor.
The very sweet mermaid is made from 2 blocks that are paper pieced, then sewn together. These are very easy blocks and would be great for a beginner. If you are advanced, you will have this quilt put together in no time at all.
Here’s a close-up of her face. I made each mermaid with a different hair color. No discrimination here! I found the perfect “flower” buttons for her hair, however buttons are optional, of course. If this quilt were to be used for a baby, I recommend NO BUTTONS! This lovely quilt, as well as many of my other designs, can be found on my Etsy shop: Made By Marney.
Friends have been asking for suggestions for free motion quilting on my blocks. I quilt every area unless it is very tiny, like the triangular nose on this Schnauzer. I try to use a variety of different sized patterns. Notice how the background around the dog (the dark gray area) has a loose stipple with a few swirls interspersed to create some focal point areas. Compare that to the very loose wiggle stipple in the blue border. In the dog’s beard, I tried to somewhat follow the random pattern in the fabric.
Notice the very tight stipple on the dog’s face and ears. Stitching this tight creates a surface that is rather stiff, but it makes the quilt lay beautifully. This is especially nice for a wall hanging.
Words of wisdom: 1) Use a variety of lines in different sections of your quilt. 2) Quilt across your quilt equally, don’t leave large unquilted areas or they will “puff” out. 3) Keep a notebook (as a resource) of lines and doodles that could be used for free motion patterns.
Happy Quilting!
My Cats N’ Dogs Quilt was inspired by a customer asking for some dog blocks for her son, who is a huge dog lover. Once I start designing blocks for a particular subject, I get on a roll and come up with a dozen different designs. In this instance, I like them all. And why stop at dogs…let’s toss in a few cats as well.
Here’s my neighbor’s Schnauzer. He walks this dog every morning and he (my neighbor, not the dog) is always carrying a cup of coffee as he walks. I always thought that was interesting, since he lives a number of blocks away from me and still juggles that cup of coffee on his morning walk with Schnauzer.
This is “Who Dat Cat”. I love the expression on her face! I want to make an entire quilt just using this cat in all different colors.
And here is “Happy Dog”. He looks like he wants to leap right out of the quilt in glee!
This quilt would be a fun block of the month project! Is anyone interested in doing this with me on my website?
The Cats N’ Dogs Pattern can be found on my Etsy shop: Made By Marney.