A couple of thoughts: You will use needles from handi-quilter, so you just have to choose which size you need. I suggest you ask your friend first what types of thread she used, then practice with various kinds. Everyone has their own favorites. I would love to use King Tut, but that is not in the budget. My machine likes Swirls and I buy them when they are on sale. A certain amount of people will say only use cotton thread, it does cause a lot more lint in the bobbin area. You will learn a lot just from playing with the machine. You can also search HQ16 for yahoo groups. If you haven't been to the Handi-quilter web site, they have some free videos to watch where you can learn a lot about the machines.
Vicky