I'll answer a couple of your questions....
Go ahead and quilt all the way to the edge - that's what the longarmers do! It's ok to stitch in that last 1/4". NOW...if you have a quilting design that you don't want to go into that 1/4", for example feathers, stay away from it. I stitch about 1/8" all the way around the edge (as I get to it on the Longarm). You can do the same thing. It'll help hold things together until you get the binding on, and you don't have to remove it, it just gets buried in the binding. Clear as mud???
As for pulling up that first single stitch:
Take a stitch on your machine where you want to start. Holding onto the top thread, move your fabric a couple of inches. Your bottom thread should pull up. Grab that bottom thread, go back to where you started, take a few small stitches (holding both threads) to keep from raveling, and start quilting.
To keep my binding full, I cut my binding to 2-1/4" to 2-1/2", fold and apply. When I trim my quilt, I leave about 1/4" beyond the edge of the top. As I turn and sew on the binding, I trim as needed to give me a nice full binding.
Hope this helps!