I made two quilt tops about ten years ago. I finally came upon them the other day. Life has gotten in the way! Along with knitting, petit point and reading. I have a very small apartment. No empty walls, no kitchen table or any other large tables. I had to clear the floor in the living/bedroom to lay one out. got it all ironed, layered and pinned. I basted half of it together in two days time. I was having company over so I went to pull up the part that I had basted and (horror) I basted it to the carpet!Any suggestions on how I can get it done would be greatly appreciated.

I read somewhere, maybe even on this board, to put a marble under the quilt. This will raise it enough that you won't pin the floor and it will roll to the next spot. Haven't tried it but it sounds logical.
Also, if you belong to a church, usually you can ask and they'll allow you to use their tables. Push several tables together, depending on the size of your quilt, tape and pin as usual. This would save your back too.
I'm sure you'll get some other good answers here too.

http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog.php/blog_id/2566

Do you have a wall big enough?

The marblesounds good. I've never heard of that. Thank you. I'll try it.

I only have one wall that I could possibly do it on and I'd have to move my bed, the headboard and the pictures. But if I could how would I get it to stay on the wall. I live in an apartment and I can't mess up the walls too bad.

Try using painters tape to hold it on the wall.

I put a cardboard cutting mat from JoAnn's under the quilt. I can slide it to where I'm basting. You could put any kind of mat under it, actually.

Janet

I would spray baste. It's much faster, and there's no way it would take two days to do it! Just place a large flat sheet underneath to catch any overspray. 505 is the basting spray most often recommended.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I think I'll try a rotor cutter map from the craft store first. That sounds the easiest. If that does not work I'll go to the wall. Local quilters shop told me that the spray basting would not last more than a few hours. And I'd have to keep spraying it. I need to go the least expensive route first.Thanks again.

The spray will last a few months, atleast it did for me :D:D:D
I like the idea of using cardboard while basting too, I would think any larger piece would do the trick!