I have done this and this is the only way to go for big quilts.

Will have to try this idea. Thanks

Do you hand stitch the batting back together, or do you use the machine?

You can find the same type of technique in the book:
Singer (Sewing Reference Library)
The Quilting Bible
except that the batting is cut straight, not in curves (which I will try out when I quilt my second quilt over the Christmas holidays).
The method does work. It is quite easy to slip-stitch the batting back together. I cut the batting where the quilting crossed over it as much as possible. There were no visible 'breaks' in the quilt later on.

Thanks for the tutorial. Like the idea of less bulk.

thanks for the tute. wow need this when I dont feel like longarming.

Thank you. I will try this. I hate FMQ!

I am so thankful to have learned this. Thank you for sharing this site.

Thank you! I definetly will try it.

Thank you for all of your comments. I have not tried this yet but I plan to. If it works will I will do this instead of a long arm. Long arms are very large and would take up my whole room. This does seem like a very interesting idea. I really love the look of the quilt being quilted instead of tied. I just can't see paying for someone else to quilt for me all the time. I did find a place that charges very little but I am sure she will not always be able to charge that. Her thread alone must cost half of what she is charging me.