Regarding the silicone - that really helps! A lot of times if i know ahead what thread i want to use, i will spray the heck out of it with silicone spray and they seal it up overnight in a small ziplock bag. A friend of mine with a longarm gave me that tip many years ago when i was having difficulty doing FMQ on my domestic machine with certain threads. Now that i have a sitdown setup i continue to keep the silicone spray handy - for thread and to prep the area to make it smooth for quilting as someone else just mentioned.