Welcome from Florida.
I use my Brothers sewing machine, nothing special. I made my first quilt on it, and being the over achiever that I am, it is King Sized! So it can be done.
My sewing machine sits on an old computer desk. I place my ironing board to the left when I'm doing the actual quilting. My sewing room is also the guest bedroom, so the bed is behind my sewing machine. This helps support the weight on the back side.
Sorry, I haven't done any hand quilting, but don't understand why someone would say they they would fall apart.
So just do it.