I have used Gutterman 100% cotton since I started quilting. I use a light color(not white) for light quilts and a dark grey for darker quilts. I have used Ransome which is cotton wrapped poly.

I use a poly/cotton blend for piecing and all cotton for quilting. I only buy neutral threads, greys whites creams and beiges. Have industrial size cones of serger threads in deep golds cranberry and hunter green, use those for decor in my sewing room.

try Connecting Threads Website. I bought a large quantity of their threads. They came out to about 2.50/spool. Each spool has 1200 yards. Great prices; good color selection; good thread. They are 100% Egyptian cotton with a satin finish - 50 weight. They run some good sales. Good luck.

I use poly thread all the time to quilt. No problems, and no, it does not affect my piecing. I've been using up some of my thread that's been around for awhile for my piecing. No problems there either.

I think "lintiness" depends a lot on what color one is using. The CT red is very linty, but so is the Aurifil. The off white colors....not so much for either.

"But I also love Connecting Threads for piecing - it very reasonably priced and I find it to be low lint. I am not sure why some say it is too linty. I have never had a lint problem with it."

Ah HECK! I use whatever my hand hits...usually that is a grey Masterpiece on a BIG cone for piecing. Its not cheap, but I usually only use one of those babies a year...with one in stock JUST in case I run out at 10 pm and CANNOT stand to stop sewing. (usually at 10 I'm passed out snoring in the bed...sorry for the mental picture!) For quilting, my long arm is happy with most everything. For the most part I use Permacore or Omni, both poly wrapped cottons. I like the weight and the sheen. I have some silk, Glide and Magnifico to try. The Glide and Magnifico are both polyesters. I say use what you have, what you like and what is in the budget. Just my humble opinion. (No quilt police allowed...)

My first quilts - made over 20 years ago - were sewn with cotton covered poly thread(Coats and Clark Dual Duty) and they are our couch quilts - have been washed many times - I have seen absolutely NO EVIDENCE of the thread cutting the fabric.

I don't even know what type my tread is ................ I bought these HUGH cones from lancaster and paid $3.00 for it... they are industrial size... i sit it on the floor and rig it to my machine... both my babylock and janome are fine with it... it will las me a life time............

I look for long cotton staples or polyester. Mostly I'm concerned with weight. I use 50 wt Aurifil-cotton or 60wt Bottom lline-poly for piecing. The fine size of there threads allows the seam folds to lie flatter.
As to quilt stitching, this depends upon density of stitching and the look of the stitching. Usually I use 30 wt poly wrapped poly-Perma Core. I have used 12 wt for high stitching visibility. If it's a high density, I like Bottom Line.

The choice also depends upon the machine I'm using, some threads work better on each of my machines. I have several collections: serger thread, 4 cones of each color, cross wound for the Brother, straight wind for my Bernina), LA thread (due to the speed of that machine I want low lent and strong thread).

Haven't heard of Marathon before. Where do you get it? Do they have a web site?

I use cotton, poly, silk. Lots of thread is from Superior, but also have YLI, Connecting Threads and Gutermann. I usually use Sew Fine for piecing, mainly because it's so fine and practically disappears into the seam. Paying more for thread is really a good thing in the end, when you think about how much fabric costs, it makes sense to use good quality thread too.