Regarding the thread cutting mechanism, my Babylock Espire started not consistently cutting the thread while making my last quilt (it would not cut the top thread about 1 in 5 times). Strangly, when I started my current quilt it has been working fine. I wondered if it was because I was using a different spool of thread (both are Connecting Threads but different colors) and tested that theory and proved it correct. My machine did not like the Lime thread. Luckily, it works just fine with the white and cream.