The only tied quilt that I made was for my daughter. It was a "going off to college" gift for her, and I didn't have time to quilt it (didn't have a longarm back then), so she and I tied it with DMC cross-stitch thread (all 6 strands). We didn't really measure the distance between the ties, just eyeballed it - if it looked like there was too much space, we tied. That quilt went to college and back(during the summer), several times, then on to her "grown up life". She's married now, with two small children, and it's been (oh my goodness!) 15 years since we made it. It's still going strong, still at the foot of their bed, no problems with it. I guess she's just taken really good care of it.