I occasionally hand quilt and have used the threads recommended above but I run the strand thru beeswax before using...less chance of tangling and keeps from shredding...at least that is what a neighbor of mine, many yrs ago told me. She belonged to a handquilting group that would use regular white cotton sewing thread, melt wax, and dunk the spools into the hot wax, cool, and that is what the group used to handquilt with.......anyone here hear of that, must be an old way of strengthening the thread....makes sense, but sounds messy to me.......