I use my husband's grandmother's quilting frame. She came over in 1882, and the frame may be almost as old as that. It is 4 "sticks" (2 at 78" and 2 at 90") that were clamped together at the corners and the quilt back was thumb-tacked on. The batt and top were laid on that and then the quilt was tied.
When I inherited them, I used bolts to hold them together and stapled a strip of denim so I could pin the quilt back, batt and top altogether onto it. A neighbor said he could use it for a trampoline. The ties were always perfect. Later, my son made a new set of 96" long sticks so I could tie larger quilts. Then I learned to pin-baste so that I could FMQ. My husband has now made a set of 48" sticks so I can work on baby and lap quilts without taking over ALL of the living room. A friend had a set of 102" sticks that I could have had after she died, but I let them go. So sad. :-(