I also prefer to tye a quilt over machine quilting. Sort of depends on the blocks which one I do to finsh my quilts. I have tied many larger baby quilt (closer to a lap size) so the child can grow into it some are now over 15 plus years and have been washed, dragged and misused but still have held up actually far better then the ones machine quilted. I have always used a square knot which have not untied.
This pdf might help those who are wanting to tye using either a square or surgeon knot:
http://www.covidien.com/imageServer....pplication/pdf
Also I am interested in the name of the book!