I also am "resourceful"..just careful with dark threads on light and vice-versa...when I have used burgundy bobbin with red top for instance, you absolutely cannot tell it...I also will take with me if I am doing hand sewing, and use them that way, too...I can't see wasting all of that thread!!

I have a couple spools that were empty, but now have 3 or 4 small amounts of different colors of thread because I wouldn't throw away the thread, but I needed the bobbin, so I put the thread on the spare spool. Then it's available to use up whenever I can, when the color doesn't matter.

Great idea....bobbins driving me nuts..the part that really bugs me is I can't remember which bobbins are 100% cotton or something else...

I use my partial bobbins on the top of the machine, where I can keep an eye on them, and rethreading is less trouble.

I use a light/med gray on all my piecing, blends right in.

I do it also.

I just took a class on scrappy pineapple and was specifically told to use up those old bobbins of odd thread. After all they are scraps too. I have so many more spools to use now.

I do the same thing too. This works out good for scrappy blocks.

Oh yes, I do that all the time!

I use mine up that way too, so I have empty bobbins when I need them. I just use them, and don't worry about if one is cotton or the other polyester unless it is a new project that demands one or the other. The seams in the back of the quilt will hold together anyway. Look at those made 50 to100 years ago, they didn't have polyester anything in those days and the quilts are still alive and well.
One thing I found out thought, don't let a spool of thread sit on the thread holder above the bobbin winder, I found it wound around inside the machine on something and lots of it, all different colors, had to cut it off that rod with a fine scissors. No more thread on top of the machine besides the one I am using, I learned my lesson and now have a bobbin winder on the side.

Carol J.

CarolJ.