1. I suggest you try both ways and find what works for you. I have always floated my quilts, have never pinned the bottom to a leader. I feel that I have more control.
2. I can’t help much on this, I don’t do many pantos. With 17” of space, you may want to space it so the center of the panto falls near the middle section of the available area to quilt, if possible. This would allow plenty of space for the quilt to roll without the bulk encroaching on the panto area.
I don’t know what LA you have, but you may want to check to see if there is a FB page you can join for your machine brand. There are pages for most machines that have hundreds - or thousands - of wonderful people who have worked with your machine and have considerable knowledge - often with dealers who chime in, too. You will probably get responses more machine-specific there.
Last edited by cindi; 12-03-2020 at 12:36 PM.