I pin my quilts with large safety pins. I have a glass topped dining table and I use squeeze type wood clamps and smooth out the back, clamp using at least 8 clamps, smooth out batting, clamp with same clamps, smooth out top and clamp, same 8 clamps, repeat until all is pinned about 3-4" all over. I pin all around the edge of the last border real close and don't remove these pins until I'm ready to trim it. I almost always do a large stipple, meander or whatever, going through the center top to bottom, then go across the center, side to side, then quilt all one quarter, then just repeat until the center is quilted, then quilt the borders, removing a few pins at a time. This method works great for me.