YOU CAN DO THIS...
My 2¢ worth of opinion. LOL
I mark the top before sandwiching. That way it never gets on the batting, For larger quilts I do a herringbone thread basting so the quilt isn't so darn heavy. Then quilt only 1/4 at a time. Since it's already marked it's not a huge problem AND I sew all the same way.. top to bottom (on just the one quadrant), from the middle out. I learned this in a Sue Nickels Machine Quilting Essentials class. Crafty's Ann Peterson teaches much the same method
Sharon Schambers herringbone basting method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA
I'm getting away from pinning due to the weight it adds, and seems to make the sandwich harder to move about.
and practice practice practice. I'm not great at this yet, but I'm doing so much better after the class.