Haha, in hindsight I definitely should have used a black thread, not sure what I was thinking when I started doing it, apart from the fact the purple was sat next to me at the time!
I have a fabric shop in my village but they're not the friendliest bunch in there so I'm not sure how helpful they'd be! I'll make sure to ask next time I'm in there!
Haha, Cathy, no need to duck! I've made the whole quilt by hand so am trying to avoid doing any machine quilting if possible. Also, I don't want any stitches to come through to the front, as for some reason the back hexies end a bit below the front hexies, so it would look a bit odd I think!