I try to match as close as possible, but tan and gray work good too.

Thanks everyone. That is very helpful information. I'm going to have to try the gray....

I try to match, but use gray alot it hides very well

I've been matching my thread to my fabric, never thought to use grey or ecru. Thanks ladies you just saved me some money!
Renee

Another color that really blends in well with mediums to darks is called
"smoke" (I think) by Coates & Clarks.

It looks a lot like the color of Easter egg dye water (sort of that greenish gray after all the colors get mixed up)

I use ecru or grey and also light lavender. Its hard to beleive but it blends very well. The only time I use white or black is if the fabric is white or black. With all the different colore used in a quilt it would be hard to match the fabric with the thread.

I use the ecrus and grays mostly, but am prone to use up "odd" spools when it doesn't show. That's a good way to free up bobbins (and the spool rack).

gcathie, what's MOTHER GOOSE?

Yeah, ditto on the Mother Goose question!! :D

I go with the predominant fabric color, which is usually dark in my quilts. It tends to make me more careful since ripping out stitches is much harder when you can't see them!!

I will do this, too, when I'm using "whatever" fabric.

If the project is only one or two colors, I try to use a thread that is close.

If I'm sewing white to a darker color, I will use the darker color. If I'm sewing white to white, I will change the threads and use white both top and bottom.

I mainly use Coats & Clarks Dual Duty All Purpose - seems to work well for me. That's what my first quilt class instructor suggested.

What do you use?

I mainly use either Gutermann, Mettler or Essential Threads from Connecting threads. I try to use threads that are high quality and won't give me quite so much lint in the bobbin area. Though, I get a lot more lint from Essential Threads than the other two