At my Guild's bi-annual quilt shows there is a huge clear plastic jar filled with empty thread spools of all sizes, shapes and colors and whoever guesses the correct number of spools (or nearest number to it) wins a nice prize. I've been saving mine in a large empty pretzel container and will be handing them in soon as our show is in May. The DH of the gal in charge of the thread spool contest is the only one who counts the spools and knows the correct number. May in Jersey