Traditionally, they were tied with cotton floss or perle cotton, often from the back, so that the knots wouldn't show on the front. Sometimes, since these were usually meant to be display pieces and not used on a bed, they were just lined, no batting at all and not tied or quilted.

Annie

Vicky,

Here's an site that might help.

Would love to see your blocks/quilt.

I made a couple of small quilts for my daughter's dolls years ago.

It wasn't a professional job, but not bad for a childs doll quilt.

I made this little quilt from a picture of one in a magazine that caught my youngest daughter's eye.

I made small blocks, by foundation piecing (I didn't know that was what it was called at the time) I then sewed the small squares together and then embellished them.

I layered with a cute fabric and machine tied them to the backing.
I didn't add batting to their little quilts.

I machined tacked them at intersecting seams that didn't interfere with the stitches I had already done.

It worked for a doll 'blanket' that was well used, I don't know about a larger one for a real person.

The best of luck!

doris

Here is a link that might be useful: Crazy Quilt tips and techniques

Vicky,

Here's a quilt made with sashings.

I love the colors used here.

Now this is good idea and as you said, it does frame the squares and kind of showcases them.

doris

Here is a link that might be useful: crazy quilt

I've probably made 20 flip n sew method crazy quilts. Or at least my version of them. I 'quilt' the blocks with the fancy machine stitches all at the same time.
Here's a picture:

Here is a link that might be useful: crazy quilt

I really like that quilt with the sashing--it does show off the blocks very well.