I ended up serving it anyway--powdered sugar is magic---and it was the hit of desserts. go figure
I told them I made the back-up because I thought the strudel was not servable---but it was fine afterall. Julia Child says---never apologize, just serve it, so I did!
more of a method

my apologies to Marilyn's Mom who makes the real thing)
basically. I took about 6 large sheets of filo(or 12 smaller sheets which I bought by mistake, overlapping 2 at a time to make a larger surface), stack on a piece of parchment and butter each sheet as you stack it. for the filling I use a shortcut---1 can of apple pie filling, 2 apples peeled and in eighths sliced very thin, 1/2 c dried cranberries, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 c chopped pecans. I put the pie filling in a bowl and cut up the apples in it a bit. then add the fresh apples, cranberries and cinnamon. spread filling over filo sheets and sprinkle with pecans, leaving about 2 inches border on the sides and about 8 inches on the bottom side. start rolling up the strudel, using the parchment to help with the rolling by lifting it and gently folding over. when you get to the bottom of the roll with the large border, just roll it over to complete the roll. this extra dough should be on top for a nice crispy finish. fold in the ends to the underneath. make 4 slits on top for steam to come out. bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet at 375 for about 40 minutes---keep checking it until it's very light brown. some filling may ooze out, but once cut and sprinkled generously with powdered sugar it will be OK.
I thought mine was a failure because it looked soggy upon cooling, but once it was completely cooled, the top was crisp again. I did not leave such a generous bottom border, and I think that's why I had quite a bit of filling ooze out and not the crispiest crust that I wanted. that extra turn of dough should keep the filling in better and gives more crispy filo dough for the top. I had to use the smaller sheets, and this amount of filling made 2 strudels. I baked them both on 1 cookie sheet, but next time I would bake them on seperate cookie sheets for better browning. I hope this makes sense.