Tear your fabric across the width in multiples of 8 into more managable lengths to wash and then cut it. When you tear give each section an extra couple of inches for trimming off the edges. After it's washed and ironed fold it selvedge to selvedge and make sure the fold hangs in a straight U shape. Then fold the fold to the selvedges to make it narrow enough to cut.

there are some ideas online -
http://hyena-in-petticoats.blogspot....-tutorial.html
http://quiltzine.com/cathwindow.html
http://sometimescrafter.blogspot.com...al-window.html
http://april-makingendsmeet.blogspot...-tutorial.html
now if you don't mind wasting a tiny bit of your fabric, you could take your yardage and measure over 9 inches and clip the fabric and then tear it across. then take that strip you just tore off and press it and then cut your squares from that.
that way you wouldnt' have to handle all that yardage and fold and try to cut across it.
good luck.

first cut it into manageable sizes, like into yard pieces. but are you cutting the whole 11 yards into 8" squares? or are you cutting borders & strips too? you could cut the fabric into the length you will need for your borders and set that aside, figure out the amount you need for your your squares and work with that size piece. fold it carefully making sure everything is lined up straight, you should be able to cut easily through 4-8 layers of cotton fabric if you have a new blade in your cutter.