spray adhesive ?

I am a beginner and I have been reading and inhaling every bit about quilting I can.  I use to make very easy little dresses for my daughter when she was little but that was 30 years ago.  I can't drive and I can't find a beginner's class at night or Saturday so I am on my own. 

The more I read the more confused I get.  When it came to basting layers together it seemed there were two schools of thought - hand basting and bent safety pin basting - so I bought the safety pins (do some comparison shopping on the web, Fons and Porter are the red hot company, but their stuff is EXPENSIVE).  If I hand basted I'd wouldn't be done for months.  I have gotten to that step yet.  I'm still dealing with learning how to use my machine and my rotary cutter.  I am start with a supposedly easy pattern, a lap quilt, that requires 3 yards of fabric.  That is really hard to work with on a 17 x 23 mat!  More on that in another new discussion I'm going to start.

I went into "my" quilting store  to get a slew of Baby Lock bobbins.  Plastic, but not cheap!  I said if I every started sewing again I would buy a zillion bobbins so I didn't have to wind multiple colors on a bobbin and then not know how long the thread would last or what was underneath!  I have a hard time finding generic pieces for my Baby Lock and have to buy from a dealer.

While I was there I saw a gorgeous baby quilt, two sided, that looked easy.  It didn't feel like there was any batting in it.  I went looking around at all their quilts.  The same thing.  I asked the lady at the counter, and she was adamant that in the store the only thing they use is Warm and Natural batting, not Warm and White, because it is 100% cotton without chemicals, it never beards like polyester, your quilt is not fluffy like you would get with even low loft polyester batting, and she says they NEVER baste with anything but spray adhesive because they want no holes in the fabric except those made by stitching.

She said they only sell Warm and Natural, different widths, off the bolt - very expensive, but I bought a yard and half.  Unfortunately I was out of my miscellaneous spending money and was too embarrassed to ask what kind of adhesive they used because I knew it would be expensive and I couldn't buy it.  She didn't give me any warnings about the spray like it needs to be on a a covered surface and to wear old clothes and a protective mask outside away from my animals.  She said the stuff washes out.  If it washes out, then how come it wouldn't come off the floor, or off your clothes?  I can understand the mask because it has to use come kind of propellant.

Oh, she also said they don't pre-wash the batting which I think is weird because it has up to 3% shrinkage.  You have to hand wash and press it dry between towels if you pre-wash which I don't think I can physically do so I guess it won't get prewashed.  I'll pray it doesn't shrink too much.

I think I am just going to call and ask. 

Beth

PS - JoAnn's had a huge sale over Memorial Day weekend and their Warm and Natural, 90 inches wide!, $9.99 per yard, was on sale for 50% off, plus everything, regular or sale priced, was an additional 10% off.  I shot my discretionary spending money for a whole month and bought 10 yards since I read that you can sew batting pieces together to make the size you want.  That makes sense since they didn't have a fabric store down the street in years gone by.