I have learned almost everything I know about quilting from the internet - the only thing I did get some hands-on instruction (a couple of hours lesson in a LQS) was FMQ. I had seen before that there is special thread for machine quilting but was told that I only need to use special thread for hand quilting. For FMQ I could use any good quality thread. What they had right there for me to buy from them and use was Gutermann, but I have since used just any thread I had at home.