I seem to get a lot more threads than other people, I think it is because I cut so closely to the grain of fabric. But I'm also a fanatic about pressing each seam and so do a lot of thread catching at the ironing board. Usually have a bit of a ball of thread/lint/what-evers at the end of the board.
To second what Patchwork said about the stay stitching, it doesn't look like I'll have use of my friend's long arm this year -- I'm looking at other options because I already have a huge stack of unquilted tops. Anyway, I'm in the finishing stages of a scrap quit that I'm not really excited about just using it to keep busy and I am using three rows of 2.5" squares for the border. Although I usually don't bother, I figured I better add in a row of stay stitching along that outer edge, just within the seam allowance. Might be some time (ie, years!) before it's quilted down and I don't want to have to go back and fix all those little seams.