If you used a 1/4 in seam to sew the top to the bottom, would it be too noticeable to trim around the edges about 1/8 of an inch (just to cut off the stitching) so you will end up with a separate top and bottom (at the edges, anyway?)? Then you could 'square up' the top with the bottom and put a nice binding on it and no one would ever know. And you'd be saving about a million miles off your seam ripper.
Shhhh---I can hear the quilt police sirens coming to get me.