I baste my quilts on my sewing machine. I smooth out my layers and break the top into a grid - usually big squares, that I outline in marking chalk or pencil. I put an X in each square. A lap quilt would be 6 squares.
I start with the middle 2 squares, smooth out the fabric, and pin down, pinning the X's first, then around the square, checking both sides when I'm done to be sure I don't have ripples or pleats. I then baste the squares on my machine, doing the X's first, then the outline of the square.
When I'm done I check it again to be sure it's smooth, then go to the next section, which would be either the top or bottom 2 squares if you are doing a lap quilt.
I do this no matter how big the quilt is. Since I'm just working in sections, I can lay out a little at a time. The trick to doing this is (1) making sure the front and the back are straight, and centered if you have a centered design, before you sew the middle squares, (2) making sure you have no ripples or pleats, and (3) allowing a little extra batting and backing fabric in case you need to square off the quilt when done.
A basting adhesive spray comes in really handy. I use one sided fusible batting, which I fuse to my quilt top, which is pretty handy as well.
It takes some practice, but it can be done successfully. The bigger the quilt, the more squares you will need.
This method is especially helpful if you are doing free motion quilting - it's much easier to FMQ on one grid at a time.