i have a tied quilt that is about 75 years old- has held up to much use & laundering.
since a quilt is 3 layers- sandwiched together = secured with some sort of stitch - tied is still a quilt- 3 layers- the ties count as a stitch :)
i prefer perle cotton- it is just easy to use and comes in tons of colors...very economical
some batts are recommended for tied quilts- others are not- read the batting packages and choose a batt that is recommended and follow the guidelines for distances. tie good square knots- so they hold up.

I love the idea of the French knots!!

Thank you Pickish and gollytwo. I looked up the site you posted Pickish. The quilts were beautiful, but I was not able to enlarge for a close up. Will have to look up the book. Told myself I would not buy anymore books, but may have to change my mind! thanks again.

My husband doesn't like the look of ties, so, this far I've quilted all "our" quilts. But my grandmother tied each and every one of her quilts and I have one that went all the way to Viet Nam and (thankfully) back with my uncle - the fabric is threadbare in spots but all of the ties are intact! She tied hers with yarn; usually leftover strands from latch-hook rug kits, because NOTHING was wasted! She used a really wide needle with kind of a spade shaped head on it to make it a little easier. (Not sure what type of needle that is.)

To me the ties do give a sort of vintage or 'country' look - I think it's charming and makes me think of my grandma so I like ties even though so far I haven't made a quilt with them. :)

I have some quilts that DH's grandmother made back in the 1930-1940's. They are fluffier. I
am going to make my nieces/nephews quilts and I am going to tie them. Gonna try using the perle or embroidery thread this time. Have always used yarn and I think the thread will look better and will hold up better than yarn.

Fassett's book Quilts in the Sun is available used from abebooks.com for $5.39 and up, depending on the condition and dealer plus about $4 postage. It is a good place to find quilt, craft, sewing books at savings.

I tie smaller quilts. I use either crochet cotton (mid weight) or DMC. I HATE YARN for tying!

If I say my quilt is a quilt, I really don't much care what someone else says.

I've tied a quilt before because it was too big to FMQ on my home sewing machine. I've used perle cotton, DMC and also crochet thread used for crocheting edgings, etc.

We have made hundreds of tied quilts in our homemakers club for charity. When someone has a fire in our area, they get one or more of our quilts. We always tie - with yarn. The secret to getting the yarn through the quilt is the size of the needle. Really large, fat needles make a hole large enough for the yarn to go through easily. I poke the yarn down from the top, and pull it down leaving enough to tie a knot on the top. Then, using my finger as a measure, poke the needle up from under about a half inch from where it went down. Now it is important to pull from the top as your other hand guides the thread underneath so you don't get a big bunch of yarn in a knot at the bottom. We tie the knot twice, and cut the yarn at one half to one inch long. I know some leave up to four inch tails on their knots, but I don't like that. To each his own.
I really like the puffiness of a thick batt in a tied quilt. Some of us pull our knots tight to the quilt, and some leave the knot loose so that the batt is still puffy under the knot.
On a really fancy quilt, the ties may take away from the look of the top, but a tied quilt feels soft and warm.