You've gotten so excellent advice from everyone. Just keep doodling, practicing & remember to breathe! We've all gone thru those beginning stages where we forgot to breathe! Don't be so hard on yourself! Practice makes perfect, and I'm sure not perfect! With each quilt you'll get better & better. Believe me, one day the light bulb moment will happen & all of a sudden you'll be doing spectacular quilts!

I did the same thing, my long arm sat for a week before I touched it. When you are quilting don't hold your machine
to tight. .....relax your hands. Thread breaking could be needle or tension. Work at it all machines are different, Just
put fabric on there and play , You will get it. :) Good Luck

3 1/2 years ago, I bought the Pfaff GrandQuilter (9") w/Next Generation frame. My LQS gave me a 2 hr class long after I bought the machine. By then, I had joined the PfaffGrandQuilter yahoo group. My suggestion is that you join them. They have people w/both the 9" like I had and the 18". The moderator of the group has the 18". They are a friendly group willing to help. Anything that you experience, someone on that group has had the same problem and figured it out. I belong to several different groups on yahoo (related to embroidery, quilting, etc.) and find them very helpful.
Dolly in MI

Practice practice practice.....
Dealing with breaking thread? Hell on a frame.Could be the needle, thread, tension, how tight is the quilt on the frame, could just be gremlins. So many variables but when you get it all together it will be a joy.
Good luck

Be patient with yourself........there are on-line videos you can watch to get some very useful hints......and a free lesson or two offered by the dealer would be good......but it will all come together IN TIME......try not to listen to the motor of the machine...that will want to make you "speed" and you will break thread, needles........try to keep an even speed, just like driving on a road, don't watch the needle or the laser, keep your eye just ahead of it, again like driving........and vertical and horizontal lines are easy, it's the diagonal ones that cause wiggles.....go to a local glass cutting place and have them cut you a piece of 1/4" plexi the width of a ruler and about 8" long....that is what I use for diagonal lining and I have been doing this for over 10yrs.... when you pick a panto, choose one that is busy and allows for fudging.....no one will ever know if you stayed right on those lines...they are only there to keep you in the vicinity......and like someone else said....dance with the machine, not just using your arms-get sore shoulders, back from that.......stick with poly wrapped thread to begin with....ALWAYS keep the bobbin area clear of lint....that is your new 4 letter word........use a nylon painting brush or a piece of lamb's wool on a stick to get in there.....there is a place somewhere on line for those wonderful lamb sticks, that wool really does get the lint out well...I also use a small air compressor and before each project "blow" everything clean........

When my sis in law and I were working on a quilt and the thread was breaking we slowed down and it didn't break.

I really like King Tut thread for my machine. The tension is as important as the right needle in the right position. You are right. There is much to adjust to. I read where it takes 400 hours to be proficient. Keep practicing. You'll be glad you did.

Yes indeed! That'll work every time!

AndiR had a good piece of advice -- look to where you are headed, not at the stitch you are making. When you drive a car, if you look well ahead down the road you will drive a straight, smooth line and stay in the middle of your lane. If you look directly in front of the hood you will be constantly correcting, all herky jerky.

Try Glide thread.....I never have any problems with it!