Lots of good advice from everyone here. The only thing I can add is, try using a thread stand. I'm a Janome girl, owning a 6600 and 8900, and I use a thread stand to feed all my thread through, no matter what size or brand spool I'm using. I've heard that Janome's can be thread snobs, but I have never had a problem with breakage or snagging when I use the thread stand. Practice on something other than your quilt, maybe a mug rug, to test it out. Good luck!