Kathi,
I am not sure what you are asking. Are you tieing the quilt instead of quilting and you are wondering about the thread ends? Their length, on top of quilt, or on the back? If hand quilting, are you asking about burying your knot and thread at the end of a quilting thread? Are you asking about backstitching at the beginning and/or ending when machine piecing? If machine quilting, are you asking about your threads when starting and ending?
Like I said, I am not sure what you are asking. If you will, try to reword your question and there will be a lot more answers/suggestions.
Suz