Quilting on the Kitchen Table – Just Roll with It

When I was a kid, the kitchen table was the hub of our home. Of course, we enjoyed all of our meals there, but countless other activities took place as well. Homework, science projects, model building, and craft projects of all kinds shared this space. Sewing projects, on the other hand, were the stuff of the living room floor. It was carpeted, plenty big enough and, as my mom would have it, immaculately clean.

Now that I’m running my own home, the living room floor is neither big enough nor clean enough to host a sewing project, so kitchen table it is. But what happens when it’s dinnertime and your project is not even close to being done? In Mom’s house, the table was always to be cleaned off minutes before 6pm, whether you were done with that model volcano or not. At my house, I can be more flexible but still, that quilt is at least two more weeks (or more?) in the making. What to do?

Eating in the living room is always an option, but in the instance that more civility is required, try just rolling it up! Start by laying down a tablecloth before you begin your project. Not the good one for holidays, the simple cotton one that won’t mind getting poked with pins. When it’s time to claim your table back, fetch one of your wrapping paper tubes – one of the big 4’ ones. It’s OK if it’s still covered in wrapping paper. You can still use that later. Start at the short end of the tablecloth and just roll your quilt up around the tube, with all your project pieces laid out on the tablecloth just as they are. Be sure to take out any quilt rulers first! Now stash the roll out of sight until your next spate of quilting. When unrolled your project will be relatively unwrinkled and all the pieces will be laid out just as you had them!

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