I know many use warm and natural, but is not your best for handquilting. In fact Jean Brown says not to use warm and natural. Actually polyesters or wool are the best, but if you have to wash the wool, it can be a real problem. But I just recently started using Tucany cotton, it is the softest cotton batting I have seen, it is a new line by hobbs and I love it. They also have it in polyester, wool and silk. I get mine from the Batty lady. She has it on sale right now. This is her site and she has a lot of info and will email you back if you have questions. http://www.battylady.com/

I appreciate all the replies. I am keeping a little running total of all the answers in the comments. It looks like I wasn't the only one who was confused with all the choices.
Thank you,
Harry

So far...
Wool +4
low loft poly +4
Quilters dream +3
Warm and Nat +2 and -3 (that's 3 negative comments too) so it's a negative 1.
Silk +1
Hobbs Tuscany cotton +1

Thank you,
Harry

I love warm and natural

I hand quilt and I prefer Warm and Natural. I preshrink it first by soaking it in HOT water in the washer. I don't let the machine agitate but after soaking it for a hour or so, I spin it out and then dry it in the dryer. It is much softer and needles easier.

Hobbs has a Poly Down I like. Doesn't beard and is easy to rock your needle. It is very reasonable in price.

I tired the fusible last night on a wall hanging and I really like it. No pinning no spraying.
And it worked just like the they said it would. You can pull it off and reiron if necessary.

Will this shrink when put in the dryer or is it "pre-shrunk"? I know wool hates dryers, but if it's already felted sometimes it doesn't shrink, just curious as I can't imagine not drying my quilts in the dryer.

Rachel

I've always been scared to try the wool batts as I'm worried about the shrinkage. The last 3 I've quilted I used cotton/bamboo mixture. It's cream colored and looks like a layer of a blanket instead of lofted batting. It was a dream to quilt through and I loved the look of the quilt when I was done.

yes the wool will shrink.