Originally Posted by PJisChaos

While I haven't found a solid solution, this is what I did find after trying the tips from PaperPrincess:
Don't ask me why but, skipping that middle hole sure did help.. a lot, by reducing some of the drag before the tensioner.
I also loosened the upper tension and tightened the bobbin a smidge, result: a few tiny loops here or there on the back but no broken upper thread for one complete pass. Yay! even though it was short-lived success.
I am still working out the lop-sided bobbin problem with small adjustments to the position of the tensioner on the bobbin winder. It's getting better.

I did setup the camera while I was testing these out, to see if I could pinpoint what happens right before the thread breaks. I came to the conclusion that the current thread stand on the back of the machine is a likely culprit. Maybe the culprit..? It seems the thread wraps around it when there is a big loop from slack(?) at the other end of the machine and then the thread catches on an invisible but feel-able knick, just as it passes thru the eye of this thread stand. That causes the thread to catch there and thus snaps it over at the needle bar. Does that make sense?
Here is a pic to help describe it. This is before I moved the thread back to the smaller pole(where it's s'posed to go but thought I'd try something different by putting the spool where it was originally designed to go). The black circle is the thread stand, the black arrow is where the thread catches after looping over the end of it. The white x is where it breaks, right before it goes into the guide, that's not really visible, directly below the x.

Maybe this will help someone else, I sure hope so after trying to figure it out myself. I do appreciate all the advice, tips, and suggestions from ya guys. Each one I try, and I do try all of them, seems to get me closer to actually being able to sew for more than 5 minutes at a time. If I come up with anything else that "works", I will put it here. If ya got anything else, no matter how ridiculous ya think it may be or just a thought about what to try.. please put it here. I will keep trying them all.

I just never realized how many small things go into quilting on a frame to make it work! It's not so simple as just loading it and letting her rip, I can confirm that. Here I thought all ya LA'ers had it easy, and boy do I apologize for that assumption. Thanks again for the help!