How To's: Quilting it Whole, or in Portions

Quilt made in 4 sections, and then put together after top-stitching,

After making literally dozens of quilts, from beginning to end, on my home machine - and quilting them at their full size, I have caught on to the 'quilt-as-you-go' phase, sort of. The bigger the piece, the harder 'free motion' quilting is, too. But this isn't really about the quilting, it's about the size.

I don't actually 'quilt-as-you-go', which has each block quilted before it is assembled in a quilt. I have made the process my own, and have started making quilts in halves (twin-sized or smaller) or quarters (double-sized and larger). Quilting, in its full-size, a king-sized quilt, was quite a chore. Getting all that material, batting, and backing into the harp, so it could be quilted... not something I want to do again. Which is why I have made this change to my process! I have done this two different ways, both are similar and have the same results. In one, I connect just the quilt top, and then separately the quilt backing. For this quilt I did it like this...This is the third time I have made this pattern, I really like it.

My own peculiar Quilting Almost As You Go

First, you must put together a quilt top, but in quarters, not as a complete queen-sized blanket...

First, be sure that the patterns match!
Make a sandwich for each quarter, pinning, flipping, smoothing, flipping and smoothing again, and adding lots more pins. Just like any sandwich.
Top-stitch or quilt in the same manner on all 4 quarters, up to at least an inch from all rough edges that will later go together (non-binding sides).
Lay your quilted pieces back out, to be sure your going to match them correctly.
Trim backing and batting to the top of the quilt edge.
Trim batting an additional ¼" to avoid bunching too much batting together.
Lay the quilt pieces together, matching all corners, pin at each corner.
Pin at each corner, but through the backing material. Attach a 2½" folded strip of the backing fabric to this seam
Sew a quarter inch seam of backing and top fabric.
The strip of backing fabric you added, it will cover the seam you just made.
Iron and pin that strip of fabric down to the backside of the quilt
Turn and top stitch those edges (and through the strip) completing the quilting of the top. Hand stitch the flap of the backing strip to the quilt back.
When finished, you can't tell it wasn't all quilted together as one piece!
On to binding and finishing!