Nel...I did go thru all the layers...on the appliqued side hardly anything showed, I used 3 colors of embroidery floss to tie it...it wasn't much more than a speck on the other side and it ended up in the center of each design so it looked like it sort of belonged there with the 3 colors mixed. On the nine patch side, I left about an inch of thread after knotting each tie twice. I hope this answers your question.
Thanks everyone for the nice compliments!