I've also seen it done the Ricky Timm's way. He marks the design on his "stable stuff" interfacing and pins that to the back side of the quilt top (before the quilt is sandwiched). Then he uses the thick thread in the bobbin while following the design lines on the top. The stable stuff stays in the quilt. Now, when he sandwiches the quilt, he can add regular quilting to secure the layers while the thick thread features the fancy design.