Design "Floor" Anyone

This tip was originally sent in by Cindy Hogan:

"When working on quilts with many small blocks that need to be laid out and rearranged for placement and viewing it can be frustrating to have to constantly pack it up and start over. Cut your batting slightly larger than you need for the quilt put it down first and design your quilt on top of it. When you need to pack up, place a flat bed sheet over your work, start at one end and roll it up; you can then fold it over into a smaller bundle. When ready to continue simply unroll it and your design will be right where you left it. Just like one of the puzzle mats that roll up."

Another type of surface that can be used is a cloth-backed vinyl table cloth. This can be placed on the floor or hung. Your quilt pieces get laid onto the cloth-backed side. As long as they are not too heavy they will "stick" to the flannel type cloth. Then when it needs to be stored you just roll it up. The vinyl side rolls over the quilt pieces with ease. Plus your quilt pieces do not stick to the vinyl when you open it back up.

You can get one of these table-cloths almost anywhere. But the best place that I have found is Joann's. They carry a multitude of bolts. You can buy just enough for one wall or buy a 15 yard roll using a 40% off coupon. Then you can cut several "squares" for several projects going at the same time.