Hi Hpiner and Judie, Mny years ago I used the backing to come forward over the quilt top and folded it under as a binding, the process worked well. In my case, I really wanted the backing fabric as the binding, but there was just not enough to cut binding strips in the traditional way, but the backing fabric was bigger than the quilt top. That quilt looked great and I had no problems with it. From memory I hand stitched the back down, and then sewed a 1/4 inch away from the edge of the quilt all the way around, and it looked as if there was a binding on the quilt. I also mitred the corners to help reduce the bulk.
I have never been one for rules, instead tending to do what I wanted to do and use fabrics that I want, and I love incorporating different fabrics into quilts. I try to remember the rules and why they might be there, and stabilise fabrics or starch them when incorporating if they are not 100% cotton. My belief is that the rules were made by sewers after trial and error, so if I want to do the trial and error and see if something works for me and it does, great, if not to bad, I always have an unpicker available.
