CaleyH

LAF2019, Thanks for the encouragement. That is basically what I will be doing. But, as I said, the six spools of thread I do have, are anywhere from 5 to 40 years old; which one is older I haven't a clue. But I will get a few spools of newer thread, lots of bobbins, and a couple types of needles. That should get me going. Of course, I need to shop the local thrift shops for fabric, and hope they aren't charging an arm and a leg, which I have found does happen

Rff1010

Give that old thread you have a "yank" test. If it breaks - toss it.
Connecting Threads thru Amazon has a "Salt n Pepper" black -white- grey assortment that will serve your needs and they bring it to your house and you don't have to fight with the rattlesnakes. My Wal-Mart is sold out of everything too so there are several threads on the board about great places online to buy fabric.
Start small & simple. Nothing breeds success like success. Think bricks or squares. There is so much to learn with this hobby that its easy to be overwhelmed on your first project.
Last words- Finished is better than perfect.

pocoellie

Caley-I thought it was funny that you think you're in the "boonies", where I live the closest "big" city is 100 miles in one direction(N), 150 miles to the west and 200 to the south. Our town IS the biggest in the county, with a population of approximately 2800, county population is roughly 9500, and is a fairly large county of 4,203 sq, miles.

eparys

Caley - Welcome to the board!! As you can see, you ask 15 quilters what is the best combination and you get 15 different answers!!

Use what is readily available for you to start off. I agree with Rff1010 - give that thread a "yank" and if it breaks - toss it out.

15 years, when I began, I used Gutterman all purpose thread and a size 14 universal needle for everything. My preferences have evolved to Aurifil or Presencia thread and for needles I use only 12 (or sometimes 14) sharps. I prefer this combination as the thread is fine and the resulting seems presses nicely (imho). For almost everything I sew, I use a beige thread unless it is black or navy - then I dig out either Black of navy thread. Unlike garment sewing, I think that I can honestly say for quilting I mainly use a size 12 needle with an occasional switch to a 14.

As for what combination to use in sewing it all together, I longarm my quilts so I will let the other members who do free motion quilting on their domestic give you their recommendations. But if I were to stitch in the ditch, I would more than likely use the size 12 sharp again (size 14 if there was a lot of bulk in the seams) and choose a color thread that looked "pleasing" to the eye. It does not have to "match" - it could be a contrasting color. It really depends on what look you are going for and what floats your boat - lol - as you are finishing your piece. I have used Machine Embroidery thread, SoFine, King Tut, Guterman and Aurifil for top stitching or stitching in the ditch.

The final and my best recommendation is - Have Fun!!

CaleyH

Poxcoellie, You sure are way up on 395. Never made it up that far when I was stationed in Sacramento. If it weren't for the Marines and Navy her in 29, this place would be a ghost town with the exception of the city slickers who come up to Joshua Tree Nat'l Park. I was out collecting more paving rock for my driveway, and I got to meet another snake, though not a rattlesnake. This one had black stripes on a light coloured body. We went our own ways.

I finally came to the same conclusion eparys. I will just test out my stash of materials, and toss what doesn't pass the test. Then I will just try piecing together 4 inch squares I purchased. I get the feeling I need to alternate everry once in a while, solid coloured cloth, but don't have any. So I am just piecing together two similar coloured blocks of different patterns until I can obtain the border cloth.

And yes, this will be fun, and it will keep me busy while I hunkier down for the hot summer.

juliasb

I use a 50 wt thread for quilting all around from start to finish. A #90/14 topstitch needle is a good all around quilting needle for standard quilting cotton.

CaleyH

Julia, I ordered 50 weight thread, and some 90/14 top stitch needles. They all weren't as expensive as I thought they would be.

Now to find some fabric that doesn't flatten the pocket book.

Onebyone

There are so many good threads available now to choose from. Needle size is important so read the education articles on Superior website. It will give you all the info you need to know what thread goes with what needle. I am somewhat of a thread snob but it's mostly from knowing the quality of the brands. Egyptian long staple cotton is the best no matter what brand. Then the quality goes down in steps from that. Find several brands of the quality you prefer and then buy those brands when you find a sale. I stick with Aurifil or Superior Masterpiece for sewing quilt blocks. Omni or Glide for machine quilting. I use Sew Fine or Bottom Line for winding bobbins or Aurifil 60 wt for bobbins when I want cotton. I was given a sample pack of Quilter's Select thread and some Sew Perfect thread. I like them too. If you have access to a microscope, a child's will do, look at the thread through it. You can see some thread looks like barbed wire and will be like barb wire going through your machine.

sandy l

Hi, and welcome aboard. For piecing my blocks, I use Aurifil only, as I think the seams lay flatter after pressing, either to one side or open. I use either a 14 or 16 needle for piecing and machine quilting. I use Connecting Threads poly thread for quilting the top which is mostly done in a grid pattern as it's quick to do and the majority of my quilts are donated. I do use a size 16 needle tho when I do paper-piecing as it helps when tearing of the paper.

Iceblossom

I made some mentions about thread and needles in the other thread but I'll put some of the same comments here.

As you see from our responses we have a wide range of preferences. I use a small stitch and prefer to piece with a 10 needle but will use a 12 (some projects need a 12), for quilting I usually use a 14 (can go higher for specific projects), and for a lightweight small baby quilt maybe a 12 is fine. So I usually buy the three packs of universal needles when they are on sale as my standard. Some fabrics like different needles so you might find a different type works better for your style of work, I really like the Microtex Sharps for batiks and can use them on anything but they are more expensive.

My biggest thing for a new quilter about needles is it doesn't matter so much -- so long as your needle is sharp! I change needles all the time. Buy in bulk/buy on sale whatever you get and replace them often. Look at the price of a package of needles compared to a yard of high quality fabric... do the math, needles are cheap! I do start of every project. Sometimes I might do a second one, like if I'm actually sewing through paper doing paper piecing, and I use that larger needle when I quilt down (which should theoretically happen after the piecing stage).

If you ever hear a "pooka pooka" sound when you are sewing, your needle is beyond dull and instead of slipping cleverly between the threads of your fabric, is punching holes in them!

I've really only gotten into threads in the last 10 years (when I started doing some work on a long arm machine) or so and happily used Dual Duty top/bobbin for decades. I agree with the snap test on whether thread is usable or not. I collected vintage fabric and amassed quite a collection of thread as well. Some of it is great. Most, but not all of the cotton on wood spools (pre-1970 roughly) is rotten.

I mostly work with scraps and I have vision issues so I can't really match thread to fabric color and if I do match the thread I can't see the seam at all, much less pick out stitches if something goes wrong. I typically have a light beige and a light grey threaded on my machine. Doesn't really matter which is top or bobbin if you use the same weight of thread. I am using a lighter weight thread (So Fine by Superior) for my bobbin now, have only started that in the last couple of years. At first I used it for the quilting stage, for the last year or so for my piecing as well. You might choke when you see the cost of a "small cone" but when you only need to buy a single cone and it will last a number of projects it's really the best way to go.

When I was given my expensive machine, my friend said it was rather fussy (my vintage machine doesn't care what you use, from fishing line to a rope, if I can thread it, it will sew it) and preferred Aurifil. I like Aurifil just fine, it's nice thread.

Thread costs can add up. In the other thread I also linked Superior threads, I have found they are the easiest/most cost efficient way to suit my thread needs, but I run out to the local chain too or otherwise shop sales like I'm putting together an order through Amazon, I'll be checking out thread and needles for sales while I'm there for other things.