No stupid questions.... I am very new myself and I am needing to know all of these questions too! So thanks for asking! :)

Another basting method is Elmer's School Glue. Check the tutorials section here on the board. Glue is cheap. It's pretty fast and easy to do. If you don't want to buy a bunch of quilting supplies until you figure out where you are going with this hobby, glue is a good choice.

Quilters curved saftey pins or spray basting have been pretty well covered. Hope you do well on your quilt! Welcome to the QB!

I use pins, basting spray, and curved safety pins. Just depends on my mood for that quilt and how much my hands will let me do !LOL (Carpal Tunnel). Learn all you can from anyone; boards, blogs, library, DVD's guilds, local get togethers, and many sites online. There is so much that not just one has an opinion on, as it may differ from another. Lots of ideas that you need to try to learn your own way you like to do things.

Be sure to ask lots of questions as no question is stupid or ignorant, how does one learn if no questions are asked. IF any of us can help, just pm or chat at us through the Board. Welcome to the Board, good luck on your quilt.

i've tried many ways to baste a sandwich, but somethimes they still shift if you are quilting in a standard throat machine. I always make sure that my batt and backing are somewhat larger than the top so that if shifting does occur, you can trim it to fit.

Welcome to the board! There are no dumb questions so ask away as you join us on your quilting journey. Think most of your options have been covered.

You've gotten great advice so far. When I put the quilt 'sandwich' together, I use my table and big binder clips to hold things in place. Put the backing wrong side up, smooth and clip down. Repeat with the batting and use the same clips 2 hold those 2 layers, then the top. If you don't have any safety pins, I would thread baste. Just take a regular sewing needle and normal sewing thread and run a line of large basting stitches in both directions through your quilt. I usually do basting about a hand-width apart in both directions. Check the instructions on your batting as to how closely it needs to be quilted. This will tell you how closely you need to tack. You could easily mark those spots with pieces of masking or painters tape. Make a mark on the tape, measure and put the piece of tape on the top of your quilt where you plan to tack. You'll end up with little pieces of tape all over the top. If you have another marking tool that you prefer, use that. There are a bazillion marking tools on the market. We've all spent countless dollars on find the one that we like best and works best for us. Just remember to test any pencils/pens on scrap piece of fabric to make sure your marks come out before using on your quilt.

Enjoy the process.

I recently started using straight pins but I secure the pointy bits with pinmoores (or in my case disposable ear plugs). They are much faster to remove from the quilt than safety pins.

I have also used spray basting 505 and it worked quite well.

Make sure to baste sufficiently (I baste about palm-width apart). As for tacking the sandwich, I think you could treat it like Stitch in the Ditch. You can start at the edge of the center row and complete that row. Then move down one row. Like someone already said, the batting instructions will give you a recommended distance for quilting. If you stay within those guidelines, your quilt should be safe from shifting.

If you were to tie the quilt by hand, I'd say it doesn't matter where you start. The ties are not connected so there would be no pulling or shifting in the process.

I prefer spray basting as well. If you use straight pins than I would recommend pinmors, alot of quilters like them.

Wow, thanks everyone for all the great advice, I really appreciate it. I am just getting into crafty-type things and this one isn't even going to be a "real" quilt in that I won't be doing blocks (which makes me feel a little bit like a trespasser here since it pales in comparison to what you all do!); it's more a baby blanket with batting inside. I will be spray basting the first fabric to the batting, lying the second fabric right-side down on that, stitching most the way around and then turning the blanket right-side out, and then top stitching around the perimeter. And then the tacking throughout the top to secure the batting. Love the idea of using my hand width as a guide for spacing the tacks, I never thought of that.

And I will head to Walmart in search of some quilter's safety pins since that seems like a good way to go.

Thanks again for the advice, I really appreciate all the answers!