Hmmm. I am going to need to go up to my sewing room (the messy one) and look up who - what - andwhy of this subject as far as who made the thread. I think some of it is YLI. More tonight.

The needles are easy, They are standard Schmetz 130HQ needles. I didn't put the thicker stuff in the bottom so I didn't need to adjust my bobbin case. It seems that Bernina 830 is pretty tolerant of mismatches in thread size.

tim in san jose

ok, i take back the messy room remark....when i made it i thought you were a lot younger............ now i figured out that you're old enough to be messy if you want to be

"Fat Thread" being an interpretation, I have only used this YLI 40/3 (Tex40) variegated yarn. It only says "YLI Machine Quilting" "Earth (the color) 13V"

Very nice. I also have put some Sulky 12 wt through the machine. To my fingers, just a hair thicker than the YLI thread. It comes in a ton of different variegated colors also.

Hope this helps.

tim in san jose

Hi
I was wondering if this was the type of "fat thread" you were talking about. See attached photo of turtle block. After doing the majority of quilting I went back and put in some blue diaganol rows for accent. I used DMC 5 Perel Cotton. I used both strands. Usually it is done as a running stich. I thought this added a bit of whimsy. A little tough on the fingers though.

is that HAND stitching? if so, i am in awe!!!
if machine, did you have to use any needle in particular?

I bought a second bobbin case for my machine so I could set it for "bobbin stitching" and marked it with a dab of red nail polish to set it apart from my regular sewing bobbin case.
The adjustment screw on bobbin-case is only good for so many adjustments, then you need a new bobbin case anyway.
You can do some really nice decorative stuff with the heavier threads, even some lightweight yarns if you use them in the bobbin, threads that would never go through the eye of a needle.
You can do this with a zig-zag stiich as well as a straight stitch.
I have a good book on this somewhere. If anyone wants, I will look up the title and author.
You need to keep in mind the decorative stitching is going to be on the bottom side of what you are stitching on. So have the back of the piece looking at you under the needle so the decorative stitches will be on the "right" side when you are finished.
Joyce

This sounds harder than paper piecing!

I'd love the title and author of your book. Thanks for sharing.

It was done by hand. I had to use a large needle to get the two strands of thread through.

Ilove that stiching. can you use it on the bobbin also? it really shows nice. like it would be hand quilting. I tink we need more information.

well Sparky that does kinda look like it but I know what I saw was done by machine. I thought perle cotton was thicker than that (or is there different sizes?) that really did add a nice touch