28th finish for 2012, cookies, and log cabin UFO

Here is number 28.

I really like this polka dot fabric I used on the back.

I baked the double chocolate treasures as soon as I got home. Once I found the best knife to slice the rolls it went fairly quick. I think I should have let the rolls of dough warm up a bit, but I just didn't have the time.

I woke up at 4 am this morning and could not go back to sleep so I was up at 4:30. I made up the cookies trays that I need to distribute today and one for our luncheon at the office today.

I got ready for work and still have time so I press the binding for the last two McQuilts. Still had more time so I sewed the binding on. I still need to miter the corners, trim and do the hand sewing so my challenge tonight is to see if I can get both of these done. I also need to put a label on all five.

I had some email conversations with Wanda over at Exuberant Color about log cabin blocks. I told her about the log cabin UFO that I pieced at least 30 years ago. I can't believe it has been sitting around all those years and that it has been moved from house to house and that it has been 30 freakin' years! I am going to take the little bit of hand quilting out, wash the top and the backing (dirty from just sitting around and constuction dust), replace the nasty polyester batting with 80/20 and machine quilt this and get 'er done! I plan on doing this while I am off work over xmas. Here is a peek at the front - this quilt is big, but I don't remember the size.

Some of the hand quilting looking at the back side

What prompted me on this log cabin trip down memory lane was a posting on a blog about a log cabin quilt where the blocks were oversized. Well, not necessarily a new or revolutionary idea, but it was enough to have a nice article published in a leading quilt magazine. I think I made this log cabin quilt before I bought this small 35 page book published in 1981. I bought it at the Helping Hands Quilt Shop in Berlin, Ohio for a whopping $4.25!

There are directions which are certainly not the way I would put the quilt together these days - foundation piecing the blocks. There are illustrations for different settings

And pictures of quilts, some that could be considered "modern" today and variations on the typical log cabin block.

Will I ever downsize this book out of my library? Probably not. It is a good reference and inspiration. What is the oldest book you have in your collection? Something that you just have to keep?