Thank you all for your great advice.
I'm definately going to use the flannel. I'm Still unsure about the tying. Can I "tie" with a machine stitch? maybe a bar tack or other decorative stitch?
My problem is that I cut the fabric on the width, not realizing how much "give" this particular fabric had. The blocks will not lie flat, so I'm afraid that if I quilt the entire piece I will have lots of folds and puckers.
Thanks for the info about the buttons. I was going to look for the large primaray colored ones.... saves me one trip to the store.
Thanks again
Alice