Your friend may have been mistaken, you can use poly batting in quilts, especially for your furry family. I think it's great for baby quilts, lap quilts, however, I prefer Warm & Natural cotton batting for things like placemats, table runners, etc. I know that you can FMQ on poly batting, as when I was new to quilting a friend asked me to quilt the baby quilt she'd made for her daughter, using lofty batting. Yup, well, nobody told me I couldn't FMQ on lofty batting, so I traced out a bear pattern, about 5-6" and quilted several over the top of the quilt. She was thrilled and even gave me a bunch of 1/2 yard pieces of fabric, although I didn't expect payment, but in the end we were both happy. Hope this helps; but I'm glad you got a super deal on poly batting, good for you.