Sandra, I Do Not hand quilt, but I do use the 50/50 Warm Blend batting made by the WARM COMPANY -see link below. I like it. It has the hand and feel of a cotton batt quilt. It has less shrinkage, and it machine quilts very nicely. The "weight" will be there for your Dad without being too heavy or lofty or airy. The batting has no resin and the company says it will hand quilt nicely.
I would not use any adhesive product under any circumstances and I would not use two battings - no need. Take No chances of a poor outcome after you have spent soooooo much time and effort making this quilt for your folks. Now is not the time to experiment with adhesives and batting combinations you are unfamiliar with.
Get a sample of the batting you want to try and make a potholder quilted like you want to on the quilt, - wash it, dry it, and see how you like it. Don't take any risks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Warm Blend

Excellent advice and I agree. Now is not the time to experiment or compromise. Not after all that work! Somewhere out there is the PERFECT batting for what you want, already made and ready for use. You have invested three years, almost four into an heirloom (not to mention another large investment into the quilting end of it and you want to enjoy the process when you're doing that, too).

I agree with the above two posts! You don't need two batts for this quilt. I would consider a wool batt if you live anywhere but Florida. One of my quilting buddies here in NC put a wool batt in her Kaffe Fassett quilt and loves it. Handquilting is lovely with a wool batt, like going through butter.

If your Dad insists on heavy.......what about a wool blanket used as the batt? Don't know what hand quilting would be like for that, but you could hand tie the quilt. A blanket would certainly give them a heavy quilt.

In the end, you are the one making this quilt and as much as you seem to want to please your parents, asking for this quilt to be heavy at this point may not be a reasonable request.

Just my opinion,
Teresa

To add weight, what about putting a layer of flannel in your quilt sandwich - that would add weight but not a lot of thickness to quilt through.

Sandra posted this in another thread "Typically in the past when I have made them quilts I use poly-fil high loft batting, but dad complains that the quilt has no weight to it."

It is my opinion, the poly hi loft batting is what he doesn't want.
The hi loft feels too floating, cloud-like, resembling a poofy comforter. I think he wants an old timey - antiquity feel. You will get this with a cotton or cotton/poly blend batting - one layer without making it too hot. You have to find one that YOU like the way it quilts. Bamboo is another option.

Bamboo is a good option. I did one quit, heavily hand quilted in bamboo and it was a joy to needle. Much easier than cotton, not poofy, not "heavy" but not as light as poly either. Enough loft to show off the hand-stitching.

Thank you Marsha I will check out the web link you posted. I think I will not use an adhesive or a 2nd poly batting. Another good quilting friend on FB said if you use too much spray adhesive it can gum up your hand-quilting needle. And I really don't want the smell of glue in the middle of this quilt. And I think if I use 2 battings that it will be so thick that my bottom stitches won't look nice. I think if I use the 80/20 cot/poly batting that I bought yesterday on sale for $30 at Hancocks that it will be easy to quilt through. Spoke with my mom on the phone earlier in the week and she strongly said that she does not want a heavy quilt. Mom wants to be able to use the quilt in the summer too, all year round, so am thinking if I added flannel that it would be too warm and make it harder to dry. We live in Louisiana and is a very high humidity state, and I don't want a quilt that will still be damp when removed from the drier that could mold. I think I am talking myself into just using the 80/20 batting and dad will just have to love it for its colors and pattern. When I hand-quilt it, since it is already a busy pattern I think I may just be doing utilitarian hand stitching on it outlining the seams/colors in each block - I think that is kind of what ya'll are calling "stitch in the ditch" - I don't usually quilt directly on top of the seams, but rather about a 1/4" to the side of existing seams in the blocks. I know I have enough fabric 9 yards of forest green to do the backing. I think I will use the white floral print for the 6" border around all sides of the quilt, and then do a Leah Day binding in forest green or country blue - will have to see which one I have the most fabric of after I sew the backing together. Thank you all for your feedback and input, I really appreciate it bunches!

Best to you and thanks bunches,
Sandra

This post was edited by quiltingfox on Thu, Apr 4, 13 at 14:18