I like to do thread painting and outlining stuff like that, that I want a little bit of "umph" to with just the top and batting! Exactly how ghostrider said baste the top to the batting and use the batting as a stabilizer and then stitch what I want stitched, then baste the whole thing to the back and acutally quilt it. You could also do kinda like tupunto, add a piece of batting just big enough to cover the area you want to "thread paint" in, do the stitching, then cut away the batting as close to the stitches as you can (using blunt nose safety scissors works best so you don't clip your fabric), THEN baste the whole top to your batting and backing and quilt. This will give whatever you thread paint a fuller puffier look!