Last year when my son got married, I made him a quilt top. I couldn't really afford to send it out to be machine quilting, so asked him which he would prefer, a machine quilted top that would be flatter, or a tied quilt with a puffy batting. He immediately said the puffier batting. We have a carding mill here in our town that makes really nice puffy battings, so I bought one of those, and 6 friends helped me lay it all out and tie it. It turned out great and he and his wife are very happy with it.