I'm a little late to the game but here is my two cents. I am working on Winter Wonderland by Crabapple Hill at the moment. I went with muslin for the backing and basted it on just as others have mentioned. However, I have a very talented and prolific quilting friend and she made a smallish snowmen wallhanging. She used something called Sticky Fabri-Solvy which is "printable". She printed her pattern on the solvy, stuck that to her fabric, then stitched through it all. Afterwards, she rinsed the slovy off and was left with just the fabric piece. It turned out great. I did not see any knots or long threads where she carry them over. If I were to start a new piece, this is what I would use now too. Take that all for what it's worth.
I have some of this but haven't tried it yet. I think this is more to mark your design without writing right on your fabric. Does that make sense? You could still have the problem of traveling and knots showing up.