My counter is 2.5 by 5 foot which is great for cutting etc. but not for quilting. I went to Home Depot and bought a 4 ft by 8 ft. ecuaboard, or masonite, light weight. I slide it behind my shelving when I not using it and pull it out to spray glue my quilt. It is large, but I can slide it up to my counter and pull it across the top by myself without much trouble at all. I center my backing on the markings I put on the board and tape the backing down.
Then I fold one side back, spray it and roll it back onto the backing, then do the same to the other side. I lay the top on, measure, and do the same, rolling back one side, spraying and smoothing. Once it has been sprayed, I also pin with 1.5 to 2 inch pins, using a spoon to help with closing the pins. I counted, average is 200 pins. I have to do both spraying and pinning because I don't have room when quilting and the quilt gets shoved around quite a bit. Another thing I do when quilting is I use my left arm a lot to hold the quilt and keep it straight, so I use a piece of a rubber glove that I wrap around my arm just below the elbow and my gloves that holds the quilt . If I didn't have that piece on my arm along with my surgical gloves I would be screaming and cussing at the quilt, lol. What a difference the rubber gloves and arm band make.
When I bought the board, I also bought a half inch piece of foam to glue on the other side, then covered it with felt so I can stand the board up and use it to audition my blocks for a quilt. Good Luck Syl