I am one of those quilters who don't match the threads to my fabrics when piecing. My suggestions would be, 3 shades of grey, 1 navy, 3 shades of cream, and 1 white, and look at your stash for top quilting colors. I am hand piecing 2 quilts using a tan, and I love it. The pieces are darker, but the thread color blends with the deep cream sashing. I am using aurifil as the top thread in my sewing machine (I call it dirty white) , and using up the thread on my bobbins in my stash before I try aurifil in my bobbins. I am thrifty, and my Janome doesn't seem to care.