How do you tie a quilt?

I have made quite a few quilts, but never tied one. I am thinking this will me a much quicker way to finish a quilt than doing stitch in the ditch around all the blocks. Is that right? How close together do the ties have to be to keep the quilt together? Can ribbon be used to tie it? What I am thinking I want to do is the bring the ribbon up from the back, tie a knot on the front and then pull the ends to the back and tie another knot and then trim the ends close. Will this work? Is there a better way?

Thanks!