visit www.picasaweb.google.com/thequiltquine to see LOTS of photos...

It was quite a feat loading all of the yurt frame, panels, tools and wicker stag’s head into the Landy. The rear seats were all unbolted and removed. The door frame of the Yurt was too wide so we had to take all 16 huge wood screws out to dismantle it and the roof crown only just got wedged in. The 8ft long roof spars came right into the folded-down passenger seat - there was no room left at all but somehow I managed to wedge in my coffee pot and bottle of gin.

I arrived in Dumbarton at Riverside Parish Church Hall before midday on Tuesday and was met by Isabel and her son who were going to help me to erect my creation. I wished that I had brought one of my “experts” with me, never having taken sole charge of putting up a yurt before. It was not as easy as working on grass or gravel. The frame slipped around on the wooden floor and the roof poles kept falling down from where I had leaned them against the frame with an echoing crash. My helpers looked nervous. Isabel was called away to sort out a quilt crisis at another Church, leaving me to hope that Ross and I could manage get the roof up ourselves. A bigger team would have been far more sensible. Once I tightened up the tension band and put the ladder in the centre of the circle and decided that it WAS going to go up we got everything sorted out. There were a few hiccups such as the black strip that held up the panels snapping but I substituted that for a piece of blue nylon rope and got the wall panels velcroed into position. Although these had all been numbered at home, they had to be rearranged as the frame was obviously not the exact same diameter as it had been on gravel. The roof was man-handled on and attached by my willing volunteer who had never even heard of a yurt previously and he also did a great job of smoothing out the bunting around the crown. He later told me that it was far harder work than going to a gym for the afternoon. Thankfully, Tracy arrived to help me pin on the purple pompoms and interior bunting because my shoulder had ceased to function. She also figured out how to assemble the Chinese lantern fairy lights. Quite a lot of string was used for attaching all of these finishing touches. She brought the photo booklets that she had printed and bound for the show and we left the Yurt ready for the morning with photo albums, postcards, comments book, coffee pot and hid all of the junk under the table, concealed by a tartan tablecloth. She drove me to IKEA where we whizzed around buying circular rugs, colourful glass candle jars and a large bar of chocolate for emergencies.

I still cannot believe the response that the Yurt received over the next four days of the show. I am utterly amazed, humbled and delighted at all of the visitors’ comments. Almost everyone entered the hall and gasped then either could not say anything at all or simply said, “Wow!!” One lady became quite emotional. Another said she had heard she was going to see a Yacht, not a Yurt! I have never had to deal with quite such a lot of praise and admiration – it was gratifying, a relief, slightly embarrassing but absolutely wonderful and I wished that the Stunt Quilters could also have been there to see all of the amazed visitors. I kept being asked if there was a book. I responded to questions until I could hardly remember what the answers were. They wanted to know what gave me the idea, how long it took, who worked on the project, where did I normally keep the Yurt, where would it be going next, did I teach, would I bring the Yurt to Quilt Groups to do a talk, how long had it taken to put up, what would I be making next, would it appear in magazines... All the time I could hear cameras clicking, just like celebrity paparazzi photographers. It was exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I had thought I would be a bit bored in the gaps between visitors but there simply were no lulls at all. There was barely even time to pop out to the loo. Apparently, the Yurt was being discussed at all of the other quilt show venues, the Traders’ Village and people were phoning friends who had decided not to attend the show to make sure that they didn’t miss it. Several visitors said that the Yurt had, “Made their day!” Visitors had come from all over Scotland, England, Ireland, France, Singapore, Hungary, and America. I was offered all sorts of advice on sponsors and places where people would like to see the Yurt in the future including the V&A, Scottish Parliament, Festival of Quilts, The Edinburgh Festival and the Centenary of the Irish Craft Council. I was introduced to Pamela Mostek who publishes books with Martingale. Christine Porter was most complimentary – she said, “Who ARE you and why don’t I know you?!” Some of my other quilts were on display too and I could hear people discussing them. “That’s Kentuckii... I’ve seen it in a magazine!” I wasn’t wearing a name badge but visitors would say, “Oh, the Quilt Quine – I read her blog, you know...” “Are YOU Linzi Upton? I’ve been following your work for ages!” Actually, I was in shock – I couldn’t believe they were talking about ME!! The white-glove ladies found me a little worrying. I would encourage people to feel the tweed roof and when the hangers wondered how to display my children’s quilts without hanging sleeves, I broke all of the rules and employed my staple gun.

My parents were among the crowds and they were pretty impressed too. It was fantastic to see them lost for words and so many other friends who had made a special trip. Angie and Chris from the APQS forum came as did Brian & Carole Sowton. There were several quilty friends from Aberdeenshire. Ellen made it and we had a brief catch-up sitting inside the Yurt. Even weary husbands were impressed, particularly by the wooden frame. It’s a pity that Paul the Yurt Man of Highland Yurts didn’t hear all of the praise for his handiwork. I encouraged people to sit down on the borrowed deckchairs where they could enjoy a spell of quiet and calm and watch the flickering candles reflect the rainbow colours of the roof. Up until now I have been doggedly working to get the Yurt finished for the LLQS deadline but suddenly I seriously need to think about the logistics of what happens next. I have a few panels to finish and I am already thinking of making some sort of floor covering, also figuring out whether to re-cover telescopic deckchairs with quilted tweed. As everyone kept asking if I would bring the Yurt all over the country, I wondered whether I should make a second, smaller one that is easier to transport. I could have the big one off touring large venues and a half-sized one accompanying me to smaller Guild meetings. I have to look into sponsorship, a proper press release, advertising, transport costs, a schedule, a teaching syllabus and still leave time for customer quilts, representing a longarm machine company and Family-life! Unfortunately, they didn’t get to see the Yurt looking splendid at the show on Saturday as the high pressure water tank that feeds the boiler sprung a dramatic leak on Friday night and there was quite a lot of mopping up and fixing to do.

I must start drafting a Quilted Yurt book that has more profound statements about my sources of inspiration. If I simply put it all down to drinking gin or just deciding that it seemed like a good idea, it will be a very short book indeed. Even I was impressed when I saw the completed Yurt for the first time on Tuesday afternoon. All the months of working on sections of a project and carrying images in my head came together at last. Once I got all of my photos developed last week it was easy to see that the colours of the fabrics had been inspired by the bracken, birch trees, derelict farm buildings and Scottish landscape all around me. I have had one of the most amazing weeks of my life where I saw my crazy vision of a project come together at last. I would never have managed to pull it off without the trust of LLQS who believed that I would complete the project and the help of my very supportive friends – real and virtual who helped in practical ways, offered advice, discussed practicalities and poured me another G&T! Instead of sorting out the workshop or ploughing through my (patient) customer backlog on Sundays I will try to sit in the Garden Yurt to work on a manuscript and a Plan on how to become a professional quilter who puts money IN the Bank for a change. However, I must remember not to light the wood stove on warm days in summer months since it tends to have a soporific effect..!

There was a frenzy of finishing attaching velcro strips invisibly to the tweed connectors and backs of all of the panels so that we could do a dress rehearsal of the Yurt walls on Wednesday. There was a bit of shifting around to make sure that panels with similar colours didn’t hang next to each other and to check that the wall reached all of the way around the yurt without bulging or sagging. It was really exciting to see that it all fitted together and we had a taste of what it will be like once it gets to Loch Lomond. Mo did a fantastic job of painting the double doors so all I had to do was find the correct hinges that would lift off easily. This involved phone calls to a couple of yurt companies and trawling the internet for suppliers of antique hinges until I found “Band & Clasp” hinges that would probably support a drawbridge.

It was time to start drawing up lists... things still to do, items to collect, what to pack and where it would all go. I realised that I should have some postcards to sell so Vistaprint received some trade from me with priority postage that cost about as much as the printing. I moved all of the Yurt project pictures into one folder so that I could get some printed off for an album. I had to make a list of the Yurt panels with corresponding photos in order to make a mini guidebook for the show. Freya helped me with margins and text wrapping then I sent my document to Tracy for proof reading and tidying up. My panels have not got the most imaginative or airy-fairy descriptions because my brain simply can’t think of anything interesting at this point in the project. I realised that I had reached something of a hiatus with the project almost complete. I couldn’t quite get the bunting finished, I couldn’t sort the photos as they weren’t ready and I just couldn’t seem to get into the right gear for packing everything in bubble-wrap. I tackled a well overdue job of clipping winter dreadlocks off the dogs with kitchen shears. Mabel was half the size by the time she was all trimmed. A poodle parlour stylist would be appalled at the hacked look but at least Mabel’s wiry fur won’t break the dog clippers when she goes to Mo’s kitchen for a number two brush-cut.

I spent a couple of days driving around collecting the photos, looking for albums, finding cellophane packets for packs of postcards, choosing fake thistles, a spare glue gun and a staple gun, and picking up a large wicker stag’s head. I got Freya and Millie to scrub the cobwebby round picnic table, hemmed two tablecloths, attached all of the crochet doyleys and finished off a couple of areas of quilting that just needed a little extra detail. There are still 4 unfinished panels that will be completed eventually but they will go to the show anyway. I still have the hinges to screw on and the purple pompoms to hand-sew to the edge of the roof. There are even some funky feathered kilt pins to place at each roof intersection. Miles of bunting was finally finished and I am very grateful to my new neighbour, Michelle, for sewing all of the pennants together for me.

Some of the seats have been unbolted from the Landy to make room for the Yurt frame but I’m still worried that I won’t be able to fit everything in – including my other quilts and a step ladder. IF there is any room at all, I will try to squeeze in a wicker chair and some sheepskin rugs. I hope that it will all go up easily at the show so that I have spare time to pop to IKEA for a few small round rugs, and possibly even a chandelier!

I may have returned from America at last but my children still have not seen much of me since I have spent almost every available minute in the workshop. The Yurt frame had to be put up in the driveway so that the roof could be fitted. Considering it is a year since I last watched the Yurtman put a frame up, it went up quite easily in about an hour. It rained a lot during the week but the wood won’t come to any harm if it gets wet as the spring sun and wind dry things up quickly. Tania and Mo came to help manhandle the quilted tweed roof sections into position for a rough fitting. It was at this point that it finally sank in how big this project really is. I listened carefully and made notes as Mo expertly explained where to attach the velcro on each section. It was a long and difficult job and there were areas where I was sewing through 2 layers of tweed, 2 layers of cotton and industrial strength velcro. I bent several needles and got thoroughly fed up with the velcro attaching itself to the tweed, itself, my sweater and the carpet. Despite the diagrams, I forgot what I was doing and attached rough velcro where fuzzy velcro had to go so that was a minor set-back. Fortunately, Mo came to the rescue and helped me to fix that when we did the final fitting and tweaking. It actually fits... and looks amazing!

Tania has been helping to handsew the fuzzy velcro in place on the wall panels after I machined down the bindings with invisible thread. Our new neighbour called in for coffee and was immediately roped in for making pennant shaped bunting for the inside of the Yurt. I sent her away with cut pieces of fabric, a template, sewing machine and scissors. She did say she was looking for a sewing project.

I made several enquiries about van hire and roofracks and realised that it was going to be rather expensive to transport the Yurt to Loch Lomond. I have now persuaded David to unbolt a couple of seats from the Landrover and it should all fit inside. I bought a couple of strings of Chinese lantern fairy lights at B&Q but the man was a bit bemused by my questions about rope and door hinges for my “tent”.

I keep rewriting my To-Do list...

I have not actually finished all of the Yurt wall panels but I do have enough to construct the walls - the rest will have to go along as Works in Progress. Ideally I would like to make a photo album to display at the show. I have to make labels for the panels and write a blurb about each one for a show guide. I need to gather together other quilts to make up the rest of my exhibition, including some that the children have done. I have to sort out what accessories will go to furnish the Yurt – rugs, chairs and possibly a table. I saw a fantastic wicker stag’s head in the local art gallery so I have asked the artist if she can possibly make another one in time as it would make a perfect feature. Mo suggested that I should add some pompom braid along the bottom of the Yurt roof. I ought to see if I can get some postcards printed on time that I can sell at the show. I am even wondering whether to raffle off “Pub Carpet” or another one of my panels to add to the overseas shipping fund. At least I have now finished reading “Breaking Dawn” that was keeping me awake long after midnight. If I can find any spare time I must try to reclaim some travel insurance expenses for my extended stay in USA and contact HM Customs to see if I stand any chance of reclaiming some of their extortionate charges for the yurt panels that stunt quilters have sent. They had to put a value on the outside and I have been charged import duty on that. I do now have almost all of them and each one that arrives is fabulous in its own way. Now I must stop blogging and sort out some digital photos...

I spent Sunday finishing off the quilting on my Yurt panel then decided to paint on some metallic lime green funky stars. I continued creating “departments” in Bonnie’s studio such as stationery and ironing... she will never be able to find anything again without emailing me to ask where I have stashed it. We made a short trip out in the rain for milk and Schweppes tonic and spotted an old chest of drawers at the side of the road so we made a u-turn and picked it up for Bonnie’s husband, Gene to revamp in his workshop.

On Monday we went back to Kingston and revisited Style Fabrics, Joann’s, Michael’s Crafts and Wal-Mart where we could pick up some half decent fabric for $2.44 a yard. I had to have a yard of Western bandana fabric just in case I have time to make an American a quilt when I have run out of other projects. Wal-Mart is an interesting place to watch people... there were various velour tracksuits worn by well endowed ladies, packets of ready meals that are not available in the UK, a vast choice of BBQ sauces, car tyres and air rifles.  Bonnie started to practice with her new Circle Lord that she picked up from the tiny post office in Elizaville and I gave my painted stars extra legs so that they looked like spinners then gave them all 3 coats of lime green lumiere. We also had great fun testing out the new Simplicity bias binding machine that folds and irons at great speed.

Bonnie had to dash into Albany to collect Siana from school for an appointment on Tuesday so we stayed behind to work on projects. Tracy pieced a wall hanging together for her new grandson and I faffed, trying to decide how to embellish my yurt panel. I just could not decide how to add definition to the green spinners. I used the machine to embroider around a couple of spinners then spent ages unpicking because it did not look right. If I had stopped prevaricating all day and had the right thread, I could have chain stitched around all of the spinners by hand. I blame the Internet for causing further distractions – there was plenty of table top space in the studio for all of us to be online and surfing at the same time. Sitting at the 1960’s basement bar with a Gin & Tonic was just like being at an Internet cafe. Supper that evening was tasty oven fried chicken legs with cowboy biscuits (like scones) and white gravy.

On Wednesday, after collecting a Yurt panel parcel from Kristina in Nevada from the post office, we drove the scenic route to Albany via Kinderhook where we passed the historic houses once inhabited by Benedict Arnold and General Burgoyne from the American War of Independence. The twisty country roads made Tracy feel queasy so we stopped at Cracker Barrel for an early lunch. We shared a burger and I had root beer because I think it is such an American drink that I would never have in Scotland. We found ourselves in Joann’s for the fourth time in a week and had to pick up a few more pens and hot fix crystals. We wandered around the mall for a while we waited to collect Siana from a homework assignment and Tracy even had a manicure at a nail bar. We packed cases during the evening and removed unnecessary packaging in order to distribute the weight evenly. Tracy actually had to buy an extra holdall but mine were OK. I was not sure how much my yurt panels would weigh so I was careful not to buy anything weighty. Tracy tried to buy the extra baggage allowance online but the computer messed her booking up so that she was not able to book ANY extra bags at all. She was concerned that she would be charged heavily at the airport.

After checking the Elizaville post office for Yurt packages on more time, we loaded the car up with our luggage and went for lunch at the 1956 fully restored Elizaville Diner where I enjoyed another splendid Pastrami Reuben with sauerkraut, coleslaw and French fries. It seems to have been rather a foodie trip for me – I think this is probably what I need to get me in the right frame of mind for serious dieting when I get back home! The traffic was busy for most of the route through New Jersey to Newark Liberty International Airport, a grandiose title for a miserable transit depot. We arrived early in case there was any hassle with excess baggage but we didn’t have to pay any extra since we got a dispensation for “being disrupted”. The British Airways terminal was being remodelled so there was very little there. We fancied a bowl of chilli before we boarded but the chilli concession had run out of chilli! To make matters worse, there was no Wi-Fi so we couldn’t even waste time surfing the Internet. I asked if it might be possible to charge up my American mobile phone so I could let Bonnie know that we were all checked in. To my amazement, I was waved into the secure section where all of the staff were chatting and face-booking on their Blackberries. I kept expecting a SWAT team to descend and interrogate me while I plugged my phone into a power socket surrounded by bored security staff. They said they liked my boots.

We dozed uncomfortably on the late overnight flight and arrived bleary-eyed at Heathrow more than 8 hours later after circling around for a while. Delays make me nervous – every time I have to land or experience any turbulence wobbles I grip the arms of the seat with white knuckles. This could be problematic if I start travelling more. I may have to undergo hypnosis or take a sleeping pill or just drink more gin. After wandering around Terminal 5 like zombies we boarded the last small pane to Glasgow. A noisy crowd pushed their way to the front.  Everyone tutted as there was no club or first class section on this aircraft. It turned out to be Whitney Houston and her entourage who were going to perform in Glasgow. Let’s just say that she is no longer as glamorous as she was in her heyday and she looked a touch glazed to me – maybe she doesn’t like flying either. I stayed overnight with Tracy and unwound with a G&T an epic 24-hour journey. She had quite a bit to unpack and fit into her sewing room...

The next morning I travelled back to Aberdeen on the very basic Megabus, surrounded by Rangers football fans all drinking Buckfast cider and vodka, discussing transfer deals, fights and getting “steamin’” drunk the night before. I was lucky that none of them threw up before they got off for their away match at Dundee. My husband, children and cat were all delighted to see me and very pleased with their American souvenirs, multi-coloured goldfish crackers and candy.

I unpacked slowly on Sunday and felt sick after eating Hershey’s chocolate with my coffee. I was only eating chocolate to perk me up a bit since I had still been wide awake at 1.30am but I should have stuck to Cadbury’s or my last bag of peanut M&Ms. It took me a long time to sort out all of my receipts and bills and I tried not to think too much about how hard I will have to work to pay for my extended trip. I don’t suppose travel insurance covers trips to Joann’s Fabrics. The best unwrapping of all was opening up the Yurt panels and letting them relax on my Milli frame after their long travels by post or plane. I will have to work very hard to get them all joined together but there are plenty of them now. It won’t be a disaster if I don’t finish every bit of quilting and embellishment for the launch at Loch Lomomd. It will be a project that continues to grow and develop. I have had a couple of new makers step up this week and ask to take part. I still have 3 to finish off but they can be added later and hang inside. I hung LSD in the studio with the ribbon from Cathy Franks and found places for my new thread, pencils and magnetic pin dish, as well as the other latest gadgets that every quilter “must” have. Now I have to write myself a long TO DO list for the week ahead.

We were due to fly home on Tuesday evening but due to continuing ash plumes from the Icelandic volcanic eruption, our flight was cancelled. We got straight onto BA’s website as soon as rebooking opened but the earliest next available flight we could get was 10 days later. This took some time to sink in – it felt exciting to be “stranded” but also very odd not to be returning after an already long and exciting trip. We went off to Wal-Mart for some basic groceries and I bought some sweeties and multi coloured goldfish to take home for the children. The next store was Home Depot, where I was able to buy a couple of imperial socket wrenches for my longarm machine. We called in at Aldi to see what it was like. Instead of cheap European tins of fruit there were budget American brands. I had to make another trip to a liquor store to stock up on gin. Bonnie drove us to see the view of the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River from Rip van Winkle Bridge. We made a modest start on the spring cleaning in Bonnie’s studio. While Tracy had fun sorting out the bolts of fabric behind the 1960’s bar, I made a very smart sleeve for my latest gadget... Tracy and I had egged each other on after seeing ipads in Providence and bought one each. Although I have brought my laptop to the States, it is quite heavy to carry around all day. It has been fantastic to just pop the ipad into our handbags. Tracy has been able to keep in touch with friends and family during our extended stay. We can both sit and check messages and forums so quickly and easily, even in coffee shops with Wi-Fi. Ipads are not available in the UK yet and I had already wondered about getting the Amazon Kindle electronic reading device for carrying several books on a long trip. We can’t get the mini programmes or apps yet since our iTunes accounts are from the UK but eventually I will be able to word process, blog and load up photos on the fly straight from the ipad. Tracy did the cooking after I deboned the giant chicken joints then we spent the evening typing and surfing the internet. We stayed up late as usual before making an early start at 6.00am to crack on with more studio sorting...

Bonnie has never had the spare time or two willing assistants to sort through stuff that had been packed since her move from Nevada to New York State so there was quite an accumulation of boxes. She was actually a bit shocked at how much fabric she had forgotten that she had. Although we were reorganising and throwing some things away, the studio looked as though it had been trashed – it was at the worse before it gets better stage. We tested every reel of thread because the temporary studio that Bonnie had after moving to New York had been a bit damp after the dry heat of Nevada. We were ruthless and got rid of a lot of thread but it is no use keeping it if is weak and simply keeps breaking. It was my turn to concoct something for supper so I made a potluck soup with the stock from the chicken bones. It was reasonably edible after the addition of some left over pasta and some corn scraped off the cob. While I was pottering around the kitchen I put some uneaten leftovers in a bag to carry them across to the amazing mechanical compacting trash can. The bag had a weak spot and the bottom burst, spilling lasagne into the clean laundry basket. Luckily, only the shirt on top had to be washed and since the leftovers were cold I was able to pick pieces of pasta out of the bottom of the basket before anyone noticed. There was quite a lot of congealed debris all over the floor but I was able to get rid of the evidence before anyone slipped on the slimy mess that I had created. Bonnie made me a batch of sticky cinnamon buns as a reward for clearing out her studio; they were magnificent! We posted pictures of them on the APQS forum and now people from all over the USA are threatening to come here for buns or inviting us to visit and sort their studios out too. We went for a stroll in the evening and had a nosy around the lovely timber house being constructed on the next property and spotted a huge toad. Frogs and crickets are starting to make a noise in the evenings now but we haven’t seen any yet.

On Thursday morning, after an early start, we dropped Siana off at her High School in Albany and sat in on a students’ meeting about their forthcoming yearbook. We were a bit puzzled over the lack of discussion in the meeting until we realised that they were instant messaging each other on their laptops so didn’t see any reason to actually speak. They were quite subdued in the company of Bonnie and two British Quilters and Siana reported later that they were in awe of my gold boots, specially worn for the visit at her request. Bonnie said that we were the “shock & awe” curiosities for the day. We drove through the centre of Albany to admire the grand old buildings constructed by the original Dutch settlers. We arrived at Joann’s Fabrics in Colonie as soon as the doors opened and spent a couple of hours wandering around on fabric overload mode. It was easy to spend a few dollars without even trying. We bought a little bit of funky skull material because it was so unusual even though we may not have a plan for it yet. We recovered over a cup of coffee in Barnes & Noble before scouring the automotive section in Wal-Mart for stick-on “tats” for our quilting machines. Tracy rustled up a fabulous spaghetti Bolognese while I ran up an ipad sleeve for her out of some of the new skull fabric. I quilted it on Bonnie’s Millennium which is a very well balanced machine.

We continued with the studio spring cleaning on Friday, squashing boxes and finally putting things back where they belonged. We had a little snack from the amazing carnival issue popcorn maker before fixing the windblown whirligig with a piece of steel tubing and a roll of ducktape. It was a lovely bright and breezy day for drying the washing. Tracy made a deal with Siana that I would make her a camera/mobile phone pouch if she sorted through her laundry.

After breakfast on Saturday morning I followed Bonnie to the County Dump in the Pontiac minivan, making sure that we obeyed the sign by not dumping large dead animals or explosives. Tracy and I pretended to be Thelma and Louise but she kept telling me that I was heading into the ditch. After that we went on a jaunt to a couple of small malls in Kingston. There were a small Joann’s Fabrics, Dollar Tree, and an automotive store where I hunted for a magnetic dish to hold quilting pins. Style Fabrics happened to have a 30% discount today so I bought a couple of small pieces, including one printed with Converse baseball boots for Freya. Bonnie picked up a huge rack of ribs at Sam’s Club to make sticky ribs with rice-a-roni and corn cobs for supper. On the road back we spotted a turkey vulture and some American bald eagles feeding their chicks in the treetops above a swamp. I finally got around to reloading the Yurt panel that defeated me in Providence and doodled random patterns all over it. It has now been titled, “Yankee Doodle Dandy”.

The first thing we did after checking in at the Westin Inn was to find a liquor store to restock on Gin & Tonic. After the frenetic activity of New York City, we crashed out for a couple of hours, had quite a lot to drink then decided we had better go and get something to eat in order to soak up some alcohol. Some students recommended the Luxe Burger Bar but we couldn’t find it without asking for directions. We had to follow and keep up with a guy who was out on a power walk workout at a very fast pace. The build-your-own burgers were excellent and very good value and had the desired effect.

During the course of the next morning we started to meet members of the APQS Forum. I received a super Amish String Yurt panel from Connie which didn’t yet have a name. She told me the story of how she had the quilt hanging up outside in order to take a photo when her husband accidentally splashed it with the garden hose and a little of the navy blue fabric bled through to the bright orange back. She told me that she was not at all pleased with him – she almost said to him that she would have to go out and look for husband number 5 to replace him... so her panel is now known as “Looking 4 # 5”

We were disappointed to discover that all of the tickets were sold out for the first evening event, The Ice Cream Social so we volunteered to help out so that we could attend anyway. They put us in charge of Security and promised to let us have a bowl of ice cream with M&M’s if there was any left over. It was a low key event where the organisers performed a song, some of the teachers gave an outline of the classes on offer and door prizes were flung across the room. They were not impressed that we shouted out the answer to the question, “How many tickets were sold for the Ice Cream Social?” as we had counted them all up as we checked off the names from our list on the door. There was not a prize for using our initiative.

Despite feeling a bit jaded from all of the dashing about since we arrived in the USA, I still managed to read my book until after midnight and wake up full of energy before 6.00am so Tracy and I used the time to make up some British quilting trivia quiz questions so we could give out our “prizes” of goodies from the UK at the APQS supper on Thursday evening. By the time my class started at 8am in a chilly air conditioned room, I was almost dozing off due to a lack of caffeine. So far I have attended a most thorough class on APQS maintenance by Amy Anderson and an interesting class on what to quilt on customer quilts by Deloa Jones. It made me realise that what I quilt for customers is imaginative enough but far too detailed to be cost effective. I spent a few hours hanging around the coffee bar in the conference centre so that I could use the wifi and do some people watching. Someone who admired my boots asked if I was there for the Roller Derby where roller-bladers dress wackily and bump into each other just like stock car racing.

I decided that I needed to pluck up the courage to ask some of the quilting superstars if they will let me interview them for my new podcast. I made up some silly questions and pretended to interview someone to check that I could remember how to operate the tape recorder. I spotted Matt, the Man Quilter eating salad and got him to agree to an interview on Saturday while he had a mouthful of lettuce and couldn’t say “No”.

The only trouble with dashing around, drinking Coke and being in a foreign country is that I can’t seem to get more than 5 hours sleep. Every morning I wake up far too early, raring to go. By the time I get into an 8 o’clock class without coffee in an air conditioned room, I find it hard to stay awake and pay attention. Deloa Jones’ Challenge class was fascinating, with lots of ideas on how to do great looking customer quilts without spending days working on them. I had a long gap between classes which gave me time to relax, watch the people and think about blogging and interview questions. The evening class was with the legendary Karen McTavish. She is very entertaining and the class was a lot of fun. The purpose was to gain a teaching certificate for her McTavishing techniques. It was really good to see her show the flowing style on a machine and to have the opportunity to practise it. After 5 minutes on the machine I was offered the certificate and told that I could leave if I wanted to... I decided to stay, of course! Karen told me she had seen my work and thought it was pretty cool – I was thrilled to hear that from her.

On Thursday morning I whizzed around the vendors and just glimpsed the quilts but it seems to be a relatively small show and some of the vendors had not brought their full complement of stock. I bought thread and a couple of rulers but did not tick all of the must-have longarm gadgets off my list. It was fairly quiet so it was easy to chat to several quilting teachers if they were helping out on the booths. The big news of the day was that a volcanic eruption in Iceland had closed all of the European airports due to huge clouds of ash in the atmosphere. It was suggested that we should just stay in the USA and head on down to the AQS show in Paducah next week!

I took an intense class on advanced artistry with Linda Taylor. There was lots of drawing which I struggle with at speed but she just kept talking and drawing while the students all waited for their turn at the longarms. Each person had about 15 minutes of hands-on time which is a very short time on an unfamiliar machine and what I produce is not usually of a good standard. I spent the last hour of the show chatting to Heidi, Charlotte and Anne before meeting up with a crowd from the APQS Forum at “Fire & Ice”. This restaurant was a Mongolian barbecue – the diners fill a bowl with meat or fish, vegetables and sauces then it is cooked on a huge circular cooking plate manned by 3 guys with knives and spatulas while everyone observes their meal progressing clockwise until it is cooked. It was a bit like throwing all sorts of everything into a wok and just seeing what would happen at the end. We did “show & tell” with Anne and Sandra’s Yurt panels, did the British quiz where the prizes included tea, shortbread and Royal Navy hats, and took lots of pictures of the APQS crowd. It was really fun to put real faces to all of the chat room avatars.

On Friday morning I made myself look at the show quilts and take photos early before I got distracted by vendors and chatting to quilters. I was absolutely delighted when I spotted a teacher ribbon from Cathy Franks on LSD. I saw her to say thank you and she was really pleased that she had chosen my quilt – she said she loved it!! On the back of the rosette she wrote, “Cool, Cool, Cool!” I spent the rest of the day talking to vendors, quilters and doing some typing. I wondered if I should have booked some more classes and realised that the demo classes are probably more valuable than hands-on where time on a machine is really limited. Later on Deloa Jones kindly let me use her machine to work on the unquilted yurt panel that I had taken with me but since so many people were attending the Gala Dinner that we did not manage to get tickets for, the whole place felt deserted so after a while I decided to pack up. Deloa arrived and very kindly basted the panel for me so that it would be easy to reload at home. Tracy and I went out for supper with ex-pat Anne from Stowe and gave her taste of the UK. We had a good hearty bar supper which was most welcome after several days of living on sandwiches. I was told later that the Gala Dinner was not the most spectacular food so I reckon we had the better evening.

On Saturday morning we had another chase around the vendors getting product demos and trying to wheedle free samples. I had a nice chat with the Filtec Threads team and Jamie Wallen wanted to know all about the Yurt project. The interviewees that I had lined up were nowhere to be found so Cathy Franks and Deloa Jones very kindly agreed to be my guinea pig interviewees. I had jotted down some questions but mainly winged it without a rehearsal, being very conscious not to interrupt, sniff or mutter. Both interviews are 5 minutes long at the most but it is a start so I will need to work out how to edit and upload these with some other podcast content to make a real Episode One.

We helped to get the show quilt return bags ready and then waited to collect LSD before heading up to Albany with our next hostess, Bonnie Botts. After arriving back at her house fairly late, we had a very quick tour around her huge basement studio and settled in for the night with a cup of tea.

We got up early on Sunday to fetch Sarah the Dog from kennels, passing wild turkeys on the way. Apparently the tom turkeys can get as large as 70lbs but would be tough to eat. The day started properly after a splendid brunch at an original aluminium 1940’s Diner where I was able to order a fried egg, “Sunnyside Up!” with ham and home fries and plenty of coffee. We had a busy day on a quilt shop tour that took in Pumpkin Patch, Tala’s Quilt Shop and A Notion for Quilting – all of the owners were friendly and helpful and had lovely displays of fabric. I bought a couple of novelty pieces to turn into book covers or another laptop sleeve. After driving around for most of the day, we stopped off at the Yankee Candle Emporium and sniffed all of the delightful fragrances and eyed up the colourful Vera Bradley quilted bags. I was very tempted to buy a glass Christmas ornament of a dill pickle but thought that it might break in transit. We stopped off for delicious Chinese food on the way home but the portions were huge so we took a doggie bag home each in case we felt like a snack later on.

We had another early start on Monday to make a long road trip through Vermont and New Hampshire to Keepsake Quilting. The scenery was beautiful and we passed many beautiful clapboard houses and barns. Some were painted in soft Shaker colours with neat front yards while others were dilapidated and surrounded by broken down pickups. The towns were really quaint throughout historic New England and we passed the time talking about quilting, Bonnie’s childhood in Montana, life, the universe and everything. We saw eagles, mountains, forests, lakes, beaver dams, trucks, hillbilly trailers and white churches – it was the most beautiful trip. Keepsake Quilting was a very nice shop in a large white clapboard building with a huge range of fabrics, although not all of what is displayed on their website was available in the shop.  We decided that the staff could have been a bit more cheerful and obliging. We bought a couple of books and notions between us but were quite restrained.

When we finally got back to eat Bonnie’s marvellous meatloaf with mashed potato and gravy, we checked the news regarding the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud. Our Tuesday evening flight has been cancelled. Air travel worldwide has been severely disrupted and the volcano is still active. There are many rumours that the Royal Navy will rescue us but I suspect that we will have to make a convoluted journey back to the UK via France. We will find out in the morning and help Bonnie with some chores in her studio so we can try to earn our keep. She has been so kind, offering to let us stay on instead of camping at the airport like several hundred stranded passengers so we will do our best to be helpful guests after all of her marathon driving over the past couple of days.

Marilynn’s neighbour and fellow Big Apple Greeter, Dana, joined us on Sunday. She is a native New Yorker so there was considerable banter between our two guides about which were the best subway stops and sights. The first stop of the day was to Junior’s in Brooklyn for coffee and genuine New York cheesecake even though Marilynn insisted that it should be enjoyed in the evening as dessert. Several families and a school basketball team were out for Sunday brunch.

Dana persuaded us to visit Ground Zero where the Twin Towers had been attacked. Marilyn works for NYFD but she had not visited “The Pits” since the tragic events of September 11^th unfolded. She has watched in disbelief from her office building as the planes hit the skyscrapers and people jumped from the upper storeys. It was a powerfully emotional experience to stand in the Visitor Centre and St. Paul’s Chapel where rescuers slept and ate in shifts for almost a year. The site is vast and the feeling of atrocity was incomprehendible. There was an inspiring quilt that had been left deliberately unfinished to symbolise the loss of so many unfinished lives.

After our sobering experience in the Wall Street area we headed for Macy’s where there was a magnificent flower show throughout the world’s largest department store. There were beautiful displays of flowers, floral sculptures and even caged finches in every department. Hordes of bargain hunters were sifting through the sale rails. Beautifully groomed assistants hustled for customers from their perfume and cosmetic counters. It was a high-end version of the sales pitch normally experienced in markets or bazaars. I was encouraged to have my eyes made up by a girl who admired my gold boots. She covered my eyelids in black eyeliner, sparkly powder and some “badass” mascara. It was not my usual unstructured look!

We booked tickets for the journey to Providence RI at Pennsylvania Street Station in Madison Square Gardens then set off on a mission to find a Chinatown street vendor selling serving noodles in a cardboard bento box. We actually ended up in a very nice Chinese restaurant and shared 4 delicious dishes between us. The subway back to Brooklyn travelled overland briefly and gave us a beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

We poured large G&T’s when we got back to Marilynn’s house and chatted late into the night. I have left her the rest of bottle of Gordon’s gin and Schweppes tonic to share with Dana as she acquired a taste for it! As it was so late and I have not had time to practice with the tape recorder, I never got around to Marilynn’s interview. I have warned her that I will send her some questions by email as her stories are so fascinating. She was always happy answer my questions about her childhood on a farm in Georgia and what life in New York is really like. She showed us antique quilts made by her great grandmothers from Feedsacks and Indian Head cotton. We talked about Southern recipes, quilt patterns and Marilynn’s travels around the USA and Africa.

Marilynn was the most warm and generous host with a soft accent that is a mixture of The South and more than 40 years in New York City. She must be one of the modest people I have ever met – she offers classes to new quilters, cooks traditional African American food for her family after Church on Sundays and says very little about her long service at the New York Fire Department. Early on Monday she wanted to cook us up a “heavy” breakfast of eggs, bacon and grits to set us up for the train trip to Rhode Island. She accompanied us to Penn St. Station. We were very sorry to say “Goodbye” to Marilynn and very much hope to meet up with her again on a future trip to New York – we would love her to visit us in Scotland. We really have appreciated the unique opportunity to stay in a New Yorker’s home and be guided around the city by someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of trains, fabric shops and the best traditional restaurants – THANK YOU, Marilynn!!

More pics will come later...or go to the Blogger blog tomorrow when I figure out how to upload everything!

On Wednesday I hopped on the Megabus in Aberdeen with my luggage on the first stage of my epic journey to the USA. Tracy met me at Glasgow bus station and after dropping off my bags, we went on a special tour of a nuclear submarine that she had manage to organise since she works at the Faslane base. I had to scramble up and down ladders and climb through round hatches. The naval officers all admired my sensible (gold) Doc Marten boots!

The next morning we began our long day travelling to New York – first to London Heathrow and then on to Newark where we had to wait some time to clear immigration. The Border Control Officer was very dubious about why we wanted to go to Brooklyn to visit a Quilter but eventually he must have decided that we did not pose a security threat. We found the transit train eventually and finally reached Penn Station and met up with our wonderful hostess, Marilynn. She led us to the subway train for Brooklyn and welcomed us into her fabulous old brownstone house with architectural features and creaky stairs. I will interview Marilynn in more detail later... After a long-awaited G&T we went to bed at what our bodies thought was around 5am, far too excited to sleep much.

On Friday morning we found ourselves walking along the street in Brooklyn past old building with iron fire escapes and boarded the first of many fast and noisy subway trains into the New York City’s Garment District landmarked with a huge needle and button monument. As I dashed over the pedestrian crossing, I felt that my decision to wear leggings in an effort to look fashionable had not been a wise one as they started to slither down and I had to hitch them up on more than one occasion. We quickly found an Italian wholesaler of dancewear where I managed to procure a new pair for $7 after a bit of banter with the Italian proprietors.

The first fabric store that we entered via an antique crank elevator was Moods, as featured on TV’s “Project Runway”. There were 3 storeys of tweed, spandex, ribbons, buttons and trimmings. I found 2 giant buttons for the Yurt’s door handles. After the thrill of seeing all of that fabric, we had coffee in a wonderful Deli with beautifully presented counters of cookies, cheesecakes and salads. I have made up my mind that I need to eat a bagel with cream cheese, pastrami on rye, a giant pretzel, cheesecake and a fried egg sunnyside up while I am in New York.

We emerged from the coffee shop to gawp at the sky-scrapers, yellow taxi cabs and all sorts of people. All through the day I received admiring glances and comments about my gold boots since Docs are not available in the USA. Next we visited a tiny Jewish fabric shop piled to the ceiling with rolls of suiting and lurex. In the beautiful patchwork shop, City Quilter, we bought some NYC fabric to make tote bags. Rosen & Chadick was an expensive wholesaler that we entered to be fascinated by top quality shirting and imported Italian wool. A store called Peron had a beautiful piece of metallic gold leather. After a tuna melt sandwich in an Italian cafe in Soho, we visited Purl which was 2 tiny shops – one sold unusual Japanese prints and the other was filled with colourful yarn for knitting and crochet. I almost bought a purple crochet hook, thinking that it would benefit my crochet dyslexia.

At Union Square in Greenwich Village Tracy was in girlie heaven in make-up shop, Sephora. Women were primping and preening in every available mirror. Tracy appeared with a hand striped with several colours of sparkly eye-liner. We had another cup of coffee and root beers in a huge Barnes & Noble book store where we browsed through all of the patchwork books and magazines.

Our final destination of the day was 42^nd Street for Times Square, lit by huge neon billboards advertising all of the Broadway shows. It was amazingly bright and colourful and tourists were all busy snapping away at all of the sights. We shared a delicious giant pretzel dipped in mustard from a street vendor. We rode the subway and bus back to Brooklyn again, not realising that it was already after 10pm. After a couple of gins we slept more soundly but still woke up bright and early before heading out to look for breakfast bagels before visiting the Empire Quilters guild meeting.

On Saturday morning we rode the subway back into the Garment District, managing to walk straight past City Quilter on the mission to find genuine bagels. There was a tiny coffee shop on the corner that served great coffee and nova lox (smoked salmon) with cream cheese on sesame bagels. We were far too full after that to do anything other than admire the beautifully frosted cupcakes. Next we wandered around the flea market inside a large parking garage, browsing through vintage couture and ephemera, pausing to discuss a wonderful mid Victorian log cabin quilt on sale for $1200.

We walked over to FIT, the Institute of Fashion Technology, marvelling at how green and open New York feels. The streets are wide and the many trees are covered with cherry blossom. The skyscrapers are not as high and dominating as I had expected; most areas have brownstone buildings with beautiful architectural features.

We attended a Guild meeting of Empire Quilters and were made to feel welcome by a large and diverse group of quilters. The business part of the meeting felt very familiar with the discussion on how the fees would have to be raised in order to pay for the rent on the venue, just like any meeting of quilters in the UK. The speaker was Betty Pillsbury who had brought her collection of crazy quilts. We had a rare opportunity to study and photograph her work. Speaking to her afterwards, we discovered that she had been to Scotland and had visited Helensburgh and Dunottar while she was there. As there were around 300 quilters at the meeting, people with Show & Tell items had to take a ticket and wait to called forwards. There were all sorts of projects including journal quilts and class samples.  The most memorable was a surprise quilt featuring cupcakes that one sister had been working on secretly with a group of friends. The recipient was so overwhelmed that it left her speechless. I showed the Empire Quilters an unfinished yurt panel that I had brought with me and explained the project in brief.

After the meeting we decided to explore the Garment District again to look at trimmings. There were entire shops filled with haberdashery – shelves and boxes full of zips, buttons, feathers and elastic. Remarkably, I only bought a piece of ribbon, deciding to concentrate on the project in hand. I was tempted to buy 60 horn toggles to add as a trimming on the Yurt roof but somehow I didn’t, deciding to eke my dwindling funds out as far as they will go on absolute essentials. I could not believe how many shops in one small area could be stocked with such a massive range of spandex and sequins. It would be amazing to design a very glitzy project but the choice was simply overwhelming and I bought no fabric at all, despite being sorely tempted by some shot silk that would make a gorgeous wholecloth.

A train ride across town to the Lower East Side took us to Katz’s traditional Jewish restaurant. It was a large, cafeteria style diner retaining its original 1950’s decor. The noise and bustle was amazing. This was where “Harry met Sally” and adverts read, “Senda Salami to a Soldier”. It was so popular that the queue reached back out onto the street. I ordered pastrami on rye with pickles and a potato salad. The meat was cut thickly but hot and tender and it was easily the largest and most wonderful sandwich that I have ever eaten! We needed a stroll around the district afterwards, passing designer boutiques with no price tickets, jostling for space with trendy bars - these shopfronts are gradually replacing the old “Mom & Pop” businesses of the area.

We spent the later part of the evening at Marilynn’s house looking at quilt patterns and books and felt most privileged to be able to ask her all sorts of questions about what life is really like in New York. We discussed healthcare, the impact of Nine Eleven on the neighbourhoods, the myths of the Underground Railroad, architecture, food, and her amazing collection of African American quilting history books, fabrics, dolls and paintings. She has been a most generous and welcoming hostess and we feel that we have made a true friend in New York.

My workshop finally has working facilities with hot and cold running water. The antique sink is back in action but I need to find it a plug. I am delighted at all of these modern conveniences but I will have to make time to paint the walls and floor in the loo and we have just lost an hour already this week with the clocks changing. I also have to deal with a massive backlog of laundry since the washing machine was out of action while all this plumbing went on. I will have to train the children to fold and iron for pocket money.

Trading Standards did an excellent job of chasing the company that owed me money for the returned office screen. However, the refund will go out of my bank account again immediately to pay for an abnormal quantity of Velcro and cotton tape.

A box of spares arrived from APQS for me to try to sort out my Stitch Regulator but I really haven’t got time to stop quilting and do servicing. I am doing most of the quilting in manual mode and only using the temperamental SR for Quiltazoid circles and spiros. I have been enjoying using it this week to give me big chunks of circles that can be filled in. One of this week’s panels was loosely inspired by old Welsh quilting designs. I have managed to quilt 3 panels this week, including Cindy’s “Train Wreck” panel and currently only have 2 completely unquilted panels in my workshop. There are others in transit but it is nice to think that I am making good progress. I would like to bind all of these during the week and then I will have done more than 50% of the wall panels myself – the rest will have been done by Stunt Quilters. I now have 2 Stunt Crocheters who are making circles and rosettes to use as embellishments on some of the panels with circles. I had made some covered buttons but they don’t sit flat enough and tend to dangle down a bit. I am still determined to conquer my crochet dyslexia one of these rainy days.

I went off on a bit of a tangent when I decided to look at laptop bags on the Internet. There were some boring functional ones and some very funky but expensive ones. I decided that I could run one up despite being a bit busy. It didn’t actually take all that long once I decided what to do based on a school reading book bag. I think it could be enhanced with a bit of lace or a crocheted flower but I can do that later on.

I was about to book a train down to Glasgow to meet Tracy for the start of the USA trip when a national train strike was announced from April 6^th. I looked up “Megabus” and found that the journey is the same length of time and far cheaper. As long as I can get my luggage on board, I don’t mind how I travel.

After spending every day and evening in my workshop I went on a trip to Aberdeen with Mo on Friday to buy some gear for the trip. We have been friends for several years but amazingly, we have never gone on a clothes buying expedition. It was very successful and she persuaded me to get a couple of things that were nicer than I would have chosen if I had gone by myself. We were very impressed with Debenhams which is a shop that I usually walk past – there were Betty Jackson and John Rocha concessions that we really liked (as I sit here on Sunday evening typing in my old jeans and striped hippy jumper). I could have bought silver lame knickers in Primark but settled for cotton out of comfort! We managed to spend all day in town, also managing to buy the paint for the Yurt door and a litre bottle of gin for my suitcase.

I was chatting to another Mother at school swimming, telling her about my week. She said that it was making her feel stressed on my behalf. I ordered my thread on Monday and asked for it to be sent by first class post. It still hadn’t arrived on Wednesday so I felt obliged to shout at the Postie, although it wasn’t his fault. I did apologise and I was actually shouting at him for leaving the garden gate open. Bloody Mabel spotted the opportunity to chase hens immediately but luckily I managed to run after her and grab her in time.

It suddenly occurred to me that I had an extra week to get ready for LLQS because I had convinced myself that it started a week earlier. This was very lucky as the DWR was taking much longer than planned with no sign of the thread arriving. I received tremendously exciting news that gave me something else to do. The American Quilter’s Society has expressed an interest in the Yurt project and is looking into whether it would be possible to exhibit it in the USA - and I may have to write a book about it too! It is impossible to describe how shocked and amazed I have felt all week. I cannot yet mention what is planned until everything is all settled. I have started looking into the logistics of shipping and getting sponsors. I will have to complete the whole Yurt, drive my empty Landrover to the weighbridge at the local stone quarry, drive home, fill it up with Yurt and get it weighed again. I also have to get a certificate to declare that the wood was all treated to USA timber standard IFPW15. I have written an outline introduction to the project, trying to pull together all the reasons for doing it and all of my sources of inspiration.