I usually buy my thread because of color, but usually don.t buy all cotton, because of the lint. My last quilt took 58 bobbins to complete it. Needless to say, it was heavily quilted.I usually buy the cones.
I would love to be able to spray baste, but I don't have a wall I can free up for this, my friends use spray basting and swear by it. They use only 505 spray adhesive.
I do fmq only, don't use a walking foot, except to put on binding.