I'm not a big fan of the tufts showing on a tied quilt. I tried my Trip Around the World for the playroom on the back. I just put pins where I wanted the ties and worked from the back. It looks good and was washes just fine. It was probably harder, but, IMO, worth it. I made it harder than it was by my fussiness. Every tie had to be diagonal, the exact same size and the exact distance from the seams.
Tacking should give you the same effect, but I preferred to work with the quilt as flat as possible.