thank you all for your suggestions, for the moment I am waiting for the backing fabric. I got the charcoal thread, and I did try it on a small sample and I do not like it, so either it will be black, that I a still need to purchase (anyone would like a cone of charcoal threads?), or will give it a try with a variegated thread. I wish that I had a local place to buy it. will wait until we do some travel to stop at Q stores.