I pin baste smaller (baby to double/queen) quilts. I thread baste king size quilts as that many pins adds too much weight while I'm hand quilting. I do as Jan in VA does with clips and move the quilt around on my cutting table - like the ones sold at JoAnns - until done. When thread basting, however, I go in both directions - horizontally and vertically. With both methods I either pin/thread about a hand-width apart.