Sewing Stamina

Adrenaline seems to have kicked in for the run up to my USA trip. Instead of my usual 500 word weekly ramble, you will be lucky to get a few coherent sentences strung together. I washed and ironed my new fabric then made myself put it away so that I could not be tempted to start playing with it. The Yurt panels that were quilted while I demonstrated Lenni at FOQ were painted and bound and even the final one has been quilted this week at high speed. I even managed to complete a customer quilt; the last one that I will do until October.

There were quite a few emails between myself, the museum in Wisconsin and the new Yurt frame makers, Yurts of America to sort out photos, drawings and dimensions. I worked out the maths and sketched the measurements of the roof for Yurt2. Mo was my right hand woman for one full day so we figured out some modifications to the design, cut all of the pieces then started overlocking, hemming and attaching industrial Velcro. The progress that we made was astonishing and I have now completed the junctions, joined the roof sections and made additional wall bands as the shape is slightly different to the original. We have to hold our breath that it will fit snugly when it meets the frame in the USA for the first time. However, I have several cunning tricks worked out in case it doesn't quite marry up that involve pins, Velcro and bunting. Mo tells me that it WILL fit – we are the team that made a fitted car cover and plan to construct an armoured horse after all!

I still have to wage war with the rest of the roof Velcro and attach the wretched stuff to my newer Yurt panels but I plan to get it all packed up and shipped by the middle of the week. I have chosen which panels will be sent to the USA; all of the original USA Stunt Quilter panels and a generous selection of mine, leaving me with another complete Yurt to remain in the UK. I wonder what I can make out of the surplus quilted material that is left over from the new roof?