feline fanatic

No. Aurifil is cotton thread made in Italy. Metro embroidery thread is high sheen poly made in China. Metro is good for those that are budget conscious and don't mind the super shiney finish of it. I will use it if I need a particular color and don't want to spend a lot. It is a good strong thread and I have never seen a better price for thread anywhere.

I have used the connecting threads cotton on the little spools. It is cross wound (as opposed to stack wound, which must be fed on a horizontal spool holder) so you can put it on your vertical spool holder. I liked it ok other than the lint factor. I prefer fil tec glide over just about any other thread on the market and have by far more of this in my thread stash than any other brand or type. Karen McTavish turned me on to it and I have never looked back. Love the stuff as well as their magnaglide bobbins. Glide is also a shiny tri-lobal poly thread but does not appear to me to be as shiny as Metro. I too have converted a long time cotton only quilter to preferring the Glide in their quilts for the quilting.

Thread is like fabric. You need to try loads and experiment with what you like. But don't limit yourself to any one brand. There will be times where you want the thread a matte finish over a shiny finish. There will be times you don't want the thread to show or want to do tight back fills and don't want all that thread build up. For those times none of the threads mentioned are really adequate you will need something finer like Superior So fine or Wonderfil invisifil or even one of the invisible monofilament threads like Superior Monopoly or fil-tec Essence. You may even want to splurge on silk thread. Then there are the fun threads like metallics and holographic threads and bobbin work threads like Superior razzle dazzle. You need to branch out and try lots of different threads. Yes it is a big investment. You will find your thread stash growing like your fabric stash.

Go ahead and buy the CT pack. That is exactly what I did when I first got my LA. I still have some left but have had occasion to pull out a spool for color reasons and use it. I am sure you will use it all eventually, as I will use mine eventually. If you don't like it in the LA you can always use it for piecing or machine applique. Or you can gift it to a special quilter in your life.