Well maybe she can make herself a pair of panties with the FQ's we are sending her with the reels!!! ROFLOL!!!!

Lorchen wrote:
Shoot, Lorchen! You need some underwear!

Thanks, Nancy!

But I need a quilt!!

Lorchen - You are really lookin' good these days!!

Nancy

Yeah, Lorchen, It would probably be best to wash it in cold water. Jan

I'm still a Hobb's 80/20 girl, but if I want to try out a new batting I make a few table mats, use and wash them a lot, and then (so far) go back to the 80/20. I have a large quilt that was made for me and has wool batting in it. It's very light but cosy. So far I have only handwashed it because I'm not sure how that batting would behave in the washing machine.

I've been using Hobb's 80/20 since it came on the market, but there are LOTS of great new batting choices available now. It's always worth trying new ones, especially if it's something that your LQS offers. We need to support them so they will stay in business for us!

My understanding is that wool breathes and so because of its light weight is comfortable in the summer. Maybe, others can verify this.

Hi Margo, If you like it so much it must be nice. I do have some to play with on a smaller project probably or a quilt sandwich. The wool sounds nice and would be very warm. I'm going on Clotilde.com to see if that's where I saw it available for a reasonable price. That would probably be warm. Is it too warm in the summer? Thanks for the help. Jan

I've just started using wool batting and I love it (just bought a case of Quilter's Dream wool battings from Hancock's, mmmmmmmmmm), but I find it more difficult to work with. Because of the puffiness, I have to work harder to keep the top flat to keep from getting puckers in the top. So I wonder if it isn't better to start with a less puffy batting until you get more comfortable with the process. I've used Warm & Natural cotton batting for years and have found it really easy to use for FMQ because it kind of holds the fabric in place. I'm pretty lazy about pinning enough so I think this has saved me from puckering quite often!

Nancy

Janet--I love wool batting! The puff it gives to the quilt is wonderful.

I'm not Nonnie, but I can tell you that Harriet Hargrave is the person who developed the first 80/20 on the market for Hobbs in an effort to add some polyester to make the cotton batting easier to needle for hand quilters.
It is my favorite batting for everyday quilts, but there are lots of battings on the market, so you should try different ones to see what works for you.
For something that I want to have more dimension showing, I use Hobb's wool batting, either by itself or layered with the 80/20.

Nonnie, why do you like the Hobbs 80-20? I have some of that left over but I don't remember using it. I might have on my first quilt, but I don't think so. It seems to have a stiffness to it compared to an all cotton batting? There is somebody (maybe Harriet Hargrave) who recommended that. I think Harriet designs things for Hobbs. I took a course on machine applique from her recently.

Nonnie, I have a cheap setup thanks to another member who sent me that link for my last quilt, which I thought was insanity without the table made of house insulation with a vinyl cloth on top. I couldn't have done that quilt without that. I tried the clamps but I didn't like them. I think that would be a great idea to try to do looser, bigger designs of Leah's designs different on each block. Maybe I'll do the in the ditch quilting with Nylon thread. I was just playing with the fabrics to see how it would look together on my bed. I got a few new ideas about what to pair with what. With the blodks on point I need an odd number of blocks. And I have more fat quarters than I need. I am just loving this and having so much fun thinking about it. I just learned on my last quilt that most of my thread is dry rotted or something is causing breakage that is annoying. I finally settled on some newer thread that I bought at Joann's that is Guiterman cotton about 50 ply in the top and bobbin. I read afterwards that the same thread in top and bobbin helps with tension issues. My machine is computerized and needs the top tension to be set weak to do free motion. Thanks, Nonnie. Jan