Originally Posted by mburdell
I think then I'll put the quilt together in sections, do the ME, then sew the sections together and add some SITD. I would hate to ruin the top or my machine because there was too much material in the harp for the embroidery unit to move properly.
Have you seen Marti Michel's book about quilting in sections? I loaned my copy to a friend, so I don't have it in front of me, and that's probably not the title.
The essence is that you can piece the whole top, make your sandwich, then carefully peel back the top & backing from 1/3 on 1 side, cut 1/3 of the batting off of each side using a long swirling curve motion with your rotary cutter. Quilt the center of your quit. Then use the faggotting or zigzag stitch on your machine to sew the batting back together on 1 side and quilt that side. Ditto for the final side.
The swirling cuts make it pretty easy to match the batting to the correct sides. Trust me (and Marti Michel) - it really works!