I love Aurifil 50wt 2-ply for both piecing and quilting on my domestic machine. I used Mettler for years but, once I tried Aurifil, I was hooked. It's not as expensive as it seems when you figure out the yardage per spool. Very little lint compared to Mettler, plus more thread fits on the bobbin so less bobbin changing.

All of the thread color cards I have are made with the actual thread, so selecting colors is no problem.

I love Aurifil for piecing too, but lately I've been using Connecting Threads polyester thread and liking it quite a bit. It's thin, throws no lint, and so far have had no problems with thread breaking. And at $5.99 for 3315 yards, that's dirt cheap, especially compared to around 10 bucks for a spool of Aurifil that holds less than half as much thread.

This may be a dumb question, but it says designed for longarm quilting. I FMQ on my domestic machine- can I use that? Is it just a larger spool or is there a difference in the thread?

I second this, I love Superior threads and alway find them of great quality.

My fav is Connecting Thread's cotton (sale going on now), I love the colors & do a huge amount of free motion with it, no problems. Of course there is lint but I brush out the bobbin area , only takes 2 seconds , with every bobbin change. I love the feel of the cotton thread.

I have not had good luck buying thread on line...I buy most of my thread from Hancocks or my LQS.

I like your approach, gale...and your attitude. It's great to hear from a quilter who doesn't let too much get in the way. Matching thread is important on some project, but for many of us close is okay and make our quilts interesting and appealing in a homey sort of way.

I too am a Superior Threads junky. I have real thread color charts for the thread I use most of. This way you can be assured of buying the exact color you want. They have cotton, silk and polyester threads for everything you want to sew from quilts to clothing to upholstery.

I also have quite a collection of Essential Thread from Connecting Threads. I love all their colors and yes, there is some lint, but when I want to match a color, I usually have one that will work. They do send you a color catalog that has their threads available in it. You might have a slight difference in color but a printed catalog is probably better than the colors that show up on your computer.

I have lots of coats and clark and essential threads. I use both of them for piecing and quilting. I also have lots of C&C machine quilting thread and quilt with that if colors are appropriate for the top and backing.

It's great that you're looking to change from Mettler's cotton. Not only is it getting lintier, when I did a review of the cost of thread back in April, I found out that it's one of the most expensive threads you can buy (of the main ones I reviewed), second only to Superior's King Tut. Incidentally, Aurifil came in the 3rd least expensive.

I haven't had time to do the shoot out for the threads themselves, but here's the price comparison:
http://www.archaicarcane.com/common-...ost-of-thread/