When Karen Buckley had to send her heavily beaded quilt to one of the big quilt shows, it was suggested she roll it around one of those swimmer's noodles and then tie. She didn't feel folding it would work w/o catching the beads to each other. Don't know if she did so, but thought it was a good idea. A noodle could be cut to size for any project to make it portable.
I cut swim noodles to my block size to wrap my appliqued blocks around as I finish each block. Pin through into the noodle. So much easier to transport to applique group.
Robin in TX