I would say they're mostly different, though if you look very hard you will find similarities. With quilting in sections you do need to think about how you're going to divide up the top and/or the batting before assembling the top, but you don't quilt it block by block. Marti has several different methods in her book, and she explains, by using example quilts, why you would select one method for one quilt and a different method for another quilt. Her book was the only reason I was able to quilt large quilts on my DSM before getting a longarm.