I have combined machine quilting with tying! I had a quilt made of big squares, but I did not know how to free motion quilting on my sit-down machine. So, I did straight line quilting on the sashing stitch i the ditch and then I used some subtle tack tying to stabilize the center of blocks. I had that quilt on my bed for a long time. It finally faded and the binding plain and simple wore out. One of my friends, will also stabilize the quilt with straight line quilting and then use big stitch quilting to add interest and even just hand embroidery in some spots. Yep, do what you want!