So, last year, I started to make a quilt for my husband and I. He requested one as "big as possible." So (who knows why) I decided to listen to him and make a King size quilt (120 in by 120 in) - Eleanor Burns' Cornerstones pattern, which I really like -- greens and browns. But the thing is so big and mysterious that it's like the Loch Ness Monster.

I **had** to get a Janome 1600 just to quilt it....and this is the first real project I've done with the machine. :) I started that a few nights ago, and everything was going fine. I got almost half of it done, and then the needle broke! I turned it over and I had a few feed of birds' nests on the back (but all the rest was fine). I told myself to stay calm! It took another day or two of fiddling, and I got the tension and everything just right. I started again. Everything was going fine and I almost got to the half-way mark. Then my thread started unwinding (Signature thread?). I tried some Coats and Clark which looks almost the same, but now that just keeps breaking.

I'm trying to stay calm. I think if I say enough that I'm staying calm that I will stay calm. ;-)

Does anybody have any suggestions? I don't want to get too frustrated with this when I'm just first learning how to use the machine.

Does anybody have any exact suggestions of combos of needles/thread that the machine likes? I just don't get it -- I have about 6 feet by 6 feet of quilting that's just fine, and now it gets finicky. I've cleaned, re-threaded, dusted, tried new thread, adjusted bobbin and thread tension...everything's fine now (bird nest and tension wise at least by appearance of the stitching) but the thread just breaks.

Thanks, everyone!