If you want to try Aurifil, Tristan Threads has it all on clearance. Candace, from Elk Grove CA, of this board gave us the tip. I placed a good sized order, and it IS all it's cracked up to be. I just placed another order, b/c of the clearance price. In the single spools/cones, many of the "neutral" colors are gone, but there's a set of 6 "piecing colors" -warm neutrals- 6 1300m spools of 50 wt cotton mako for $26. It's grab bag 7H. www.tristan.bc.ca Maybe do a group order to save on shipping. I told them Candace referred me, hope she gets a coupon or something, b/c I think I got a lot of thread at a great price. I don't think I would have tried it otherwise, but I'm glad I did. It is MUCH less linty. Just me-but Gutermann gives off the most lint in my machine. Mettler is good. I also love Masterpiece by Superior Threads, but it's $7.50 for a 600 yd spool, very pricey, IMHO.