I forget what needles I used the last quilt I did big stitch quilting on. I did use, I think, a #12 pearle cotton thread though. It was quick! Granted, it was only a baby quilt but still - done in no time. DH really liked it lots since he could actually see the stitches. I used smaller stitches than the typical 'big stitch' length as I had a really hard time getting into a larger stitch rhythm since I'm used to trying to always make tiny stitches with my hand quilting, lol.