Cheap batting
Last summer I bought a king sized mattress pad at a yard sale for $5. It is pretty thick white flannel and, once I cut off the elastic edging, I had acres of batting! I have used it for small christmas presents and just cut out batting for four placemats for my SIL. I still seem to have miles of it for future projects.
Don't know if this has been mentioned on the board before, but wanted to share.
BTW, I designed (my first ever design effort) the placemats for her round table and just sort of winged it. I'll post pics when I get them quilted and bound.