I've done some machine tieing on smaller quilts, works great. You will still have to wrestle the quilt through the harp though. One caveat, the same spacing rules apply as they do in machine quilting, perhaps even more importantly.
Wash and wear on quilts that are tied creates a lot of shift and pull on the tied areas.

I'd make them no further than 4" apart.

All good ideas here, and happy new stash!

Love the heart idea, thanks.

Tying sounds like a good idea. (Yes, I looked up tying in my dictionary. Who would have known. Tying? Are you sure? LOL) I have the large quilt frame sticks that would hold the entire quilt and would be very easy to tie without getting puckers. I know of several people who have such frames - and the Amish or Mennonites would be able to help you out with that, too.

If it is going to be an heirloom quilt for the family, and not used often, I would pull the Poly Poofy stuff out. I was given a couple of my DMIL's to refresh "repair"and all were done with poly batting that just disintegrated. All that was left was a pile of sandy uuck, so I had to remove all the beautiful hand stitching she had done, change the batting and start over. I did them FMG in as close to the old pattern as I could. I don't like trying to save those old quilts, but they were in such dire need, and both of my SIl's were heartbroken by the polyester breaking down.

Well, I got my answer when I tried to fit it into the sewing machine. Much too big. So, I am taking out the stitches and adding my batting. That may be why she stopped to begin with.

So many great ideas here. Good luck & please post when you finish. I'm sure everyone would love to see what you done to remedy the problem

Please be sure to post pictures before you send them off to their destinations.

I agree with Tartan, although I am not an expert, she is.