Someone posted previously on this board, that they sectioned their quilt into I think 3 sections, leaving the top and backing in one full piece, but using only a portion of batting in the centre. Then they quilted that area. Next they added batting to the second section, quilted that, and then finished up with the final section with it's batting. I'm not sure I'm explaining it right. The essence was that you had a lot less bulk to deal with when you quilted the centre, and by the time you got to the outer edges (right or left) you could push the remaining bulk of the centre to the more open area of your machine. I think this was a modified quilt as you go sort of technique.
And someone has a book about this, but I can't remember if it's called "Quilting in Sections" or something like that. Hopefully the OP (original poster) will see this and expand on my poor explanation!