For me it depends on the size of the quilt. Larger quilts (queen; king) I tend to thread baste as that many pins really add a lot of weight to the sandwich. I don't have much of an issue with the pins getting in the way of the hoop. I just adjust the pins or the sandwich accordingly. But the extra weight of the pins makes turning the quilt every which way just that much more of an ordeal. Now, if I could quilt in different directions that might not be such a big deal. I can only quilt towards myself.