We found Quilters Dream batting on our second trip to the Houston Quilt Market.  We took a chance and bought enough to last us awhile.  We've never even tried another batting after using Quilters Dream.  For hand quilting, Quilters Dream Cotton Request and Select are our favorites.  Request is a low loft, perfectly constructed batting that is great for nice, small, neat quilting.  Select batting is great for hand quilting as well, but adds more warmth to the quilt and the quilting is more defined.  It is good for machine quilting as well