"Cabin Paws" Pattern by MH Designs

I fell in love with paper piecing pattern a few years ago but never got around to doing it.  The one thing I hate about this pattern after I opened it is that she has you cut different fabric widths but doesn't tell you which width goes with what block pieces.  Ughh.  I'm really sick of badly written directions on patterns as this the 3rd purchased pattern in a row I've had to deal with this problem.

Anyway, here's the first block done out of the four.  It measures under 6 inches and I need 4 of them plus the half square pieced border.  I hope I have enough fabric for this as I'll never find it again.

Daughter's Minecraft Pillow

As I was perusing through quilterblogs.com, I came across a Minecraft Creeper pillow that someone had made for her son.  My daughter who LOVES Minecraft, happened to see it and wanted one as well.  I can't find the lady's post, but I can't claim credit for the pattern since I copied hers from the picture she had.

My daughter made this all by herself.  She cut and pieced the block and I may have a quilter in the family.  She loved using the sewing machine and towards the end was confidently sewing a 1/4 inch seam.  I started out by using a hera marker and ruler to make a guide for the needle to follow.  

She still needs to stuff it and my understanding is that Creepers make some "Ssssss" noise before they get you so the label on the back will have that.  I'm really proud of her and hope she loves the pillow once it's done.

Quarter Century Bike Ride

Did my first sponsored bike ride on Saturday.  We all got tags for our bikes and headed out for the 25 mile ride.   Truthfully the ride pretty much killed me emotionally and physically.  I thought I'd have a great time and I was so exhausted and frustrated afterwards it hurt.  It was 90 degrees with head winds up to 30mph and I was nearly dead when we reached the halfway point.  I almost wanted to dump my bike in the back of the truck, start crying, and have them drag me back to the starting point in shame.

My friend convinced me to head back as now we'd have a tailwind but by mile 15 my left arm was killing me and had to keep stopping to rest.  Everyone was passing us and even though it wasn't a race, I just felt like a failure.  My mountain bike shorts were digging into my waist around mile 17 adding to the discomfort as well.  We finally made it back to the beginning and headed into the bar for the food being provided.

For making it 25 miles we all got our t-shirts that I can proudly say I earned and I love it:

Will I do a ride like this again?  I don't know.  But, if you have a chance to do a ride, do it.  I don't regret it and I learned a lot about myself.