When I had my 18" quilt machine I went from the top to the bottom excluding the side borders and then turned it to do the side borders as the top and bottom. Now I have a 26" quilt machine and have learned how to chunk my side borders so they're done as I move down the quilt. Was always afraid to try my hand at chunking before but now it seems easier to me. Also helps to have a program to help with the layout of the patterns. I do have robotics on my machine too so another advantage for me. I do tend to work from the center outward splitting my long patterns when doing a border or E2E pattern to help with the draw-in.