I did exactly that a number of years ago. I used the ring tape available at JoAnns and only one dowel rod on the bottom. Not overly difficult to raise but I did have to fiddle with the pleats a bit when raised to get them to lay flat each time. If I remember correctly the only 'quilting' I did was where I had sewn the ring tapes to the entire piece. And I'm not sure if I had 3 or 4 rows of the rings.
Good luck.