The other thing to take into consideration is that with the 1/4 inch seam allowance, the less you tie, the more it will move around and ravel when it is washed. We tie a lot of quilts at church

I have made lots of tied Baby Quilts and tied them every 4 " apart... I have tied Corners as well as in the middle of the blocks... sometimes follow the design around the edges of the Animals or Toys on the Quilts. for them I used the Poly batting so I wasn't too worried about it shifting... Just remember to dry on Low heat and only wash just the quilt in a Front loading washer... One of my Baby Quilts lasted through 4 children..... With a larger Quilt a little closer together would be Good...

Icee,
I would get it back and tie it some more. My first quilt was a 100" flaming star (pieces were 20+ inches large). I did as you indicated - tying about 12" apart with embroidery/ crewel thread. I used old 100% cotton thread - material was a cotton/poly blend. My grandma helped me tie it.

After the first wash, seams started popping. There just wasn't enough support for the weight of the quilt. Because Grandma is long gone, I haven't wanted to take it apart and put it back together the right way, but I've never really been able to use the quilt because of all the broken seams. That was 40+ years ago!

Since it sounds like you have gifted the quilt, it's really better to just admit the problem before the quilt starts to fall apart, get it back, and fix it now while you still have the energy and desire to do so.

Good luck!

I suggest 4 to 6 inches apart. We tied about 50 lap quilts for the local nursing home and that was our general rule.

The ones I've tied with wool yarn have stayed tied just fine - the wool shrinks when you wash it

I've never liked the look of tied quilts, but I appreciate the ease and speed of doing it this way...so why not do a whip stitch instead of tying? Then run the needle along the inside of the quilt and do another whip stitch. Unseen, yet effective.