layouts in small spaces

I've mentioned before the difficulties I have laying out quilt tops at home. Living with my bestie in a 1 bedroom apartment converted to a 2 bedroom makes floor space limited. 650 or so square feet of us, the cats, and our stuff. I've worked to find ways to peice tops together while living here. Most often, I lay them out at my friend Megan's house, who has ample floor space. Other times, I just have to make it work with the space I have.

My current method is using a flannel table cloth or quilt of some sorts as a design wall. Or, rather, I should say design floor. For smaller tops, I can usually lay out on top of one of the beds with a little effort.

Here I have Isa's quilt laid out on Bestie's bed. Under the blocks is a flannel quilt (you can see the back of it to the left). I laid it out and played around with things until I was happy with they layout. I then carefully folded and rolled it up to make it easy to move.

 We then moved to my bed, which is in my sewing cave. I gently unfolded one end and started putting the blocks together. Here, I have two rows almost together - the top six are together and waiting to join the group of 4 in the lower right. Next, to the left, is the middle row, which I haven't started piecing together yet. The other two rows are still rolled up in the blanket because their isn't room to unroll the whole thing on my little bed (uh, little bed with boxes of fabric on it - I feel like my life in this apartment is like a game of Tetris!)

Here is just a close up of the blocks I have together. This is for my niece Isa, who is going to be a big sister any day now (or Thursday, whichever comes first!). I started this for her birthday last month and moved to making it for her "Big Sister" day after having some medical stuff slow me down for a couple weeks. I doubt I will have it quilted and finished by Thursday (laying out quilt sandwiches can't be done well in this apartment) but it should be done sooner instead of later.

So that is it. How to keep your tops together in tiny spaces. It would also work if you couldn't leave your top laying out because of whatever reasons (kids, pets, a desire to walk on your floor....)