Here is my suggestion to you. Take a little time to read up on quilting. That makes you understand the possibilities of the finished quilt. I have this book by Christine Maraccini called Machine Quilting solutions. It has many subjects beside the actual designs. It covers in one place how to read a quilt and to get all the information you are talking about here. For example, on page 12 of the book it talks about the end use of the quilt and how much use it will get. She categorizes the quilts as Draggers, Keepsake and showstoppers. if you know how the quilt will be used it affects to amount of quilting needed to finish it properly. That really helped me in choosing the quilt design and density. Why go through all this you may ask? Because educating yourself about a decision for your quilt helps both you and the long arm quilter. I want you to get the quilt back with exactly what you want. You see? There are books at the library you could check out to educate yourself on this phase of the quilting process.
Snooze talks about using an embroidery stitch to finish the binding off. I know there is a video about that at Bernina.com. No you don't have to own a bernina to go there and watch videos and download the instructions. It is easier than you think to get all of the info you need, just don't give up now.