That certainly hadn't occurred to me! I'll have to print it out and study it to see if I can do this. At first glance, it does seem to me that sewing directly to the batting would help keep the strips squared up. It might be worth a try on the next quilt top. I certainly appreciate your loaning me your creativity. :-)
If I'm reading this right, using your method wouldn't take significantly longer than quilting the whole top after it's assembled, as I've done with the first two?
I guess you have no ideas on what to do with the two quilt tops that are already done? No worries; even when nobody here can give me an idea, at least I feel reassured that my own judgment is probably the best I can get. As I continue think about it, I'm inclined wet-block the two quilt-tops on the floor before I sew the top and bottom borders on, then layer and quilt. That's probably as close to a rectangle as I'm going to get, and it shouldn't take more time than the client would be willing to pay for.
Thank you! (And thanks to everybody who has offered ideas. I know this is a kooky project with kooky problems. I certainly don't expect everybody to assimilate and remember all the kookiness -- but I do get new ideas from your "best guesses," especially after I ponder them for a while.)
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