GEMRM

Hello all,
Hoping someone here can provide some guidance - I've been floating the top and that's worked pretty well, except that I've noticed if the top has sashing then the sashing isn't as smooth as the block areas - so when I go to quilt the sashing, it will pleat or pucker.
Any thoughts/ideas what I could do differently?
Should I quilt the sashings first?
Should I baste the sashings widthwise as I go, then turn the quilt and baste lengthwise, then quilt them?
I have a project that I want to do the individual blocks, and then a sashing treatment and I'd really like to not have a pleat/pucker issue.
The last quilt I did with blocks/sashing, I finished the sashing on my DSM.

Also, does anyone use a facing strip of fabric along the edges of their quilt to enable one to get to the very edge of the quilt?

Open to any and all ideas,

Thanks,
GEMRM