Ten minutes too many of quilting and a reader question

ARGHHHHH! It is one of those bad thread days! My Mom (Anne H) has a new African quilt that she has asked me to quilt before she adds her magic embellishments. This is an original design - I love the chickens on the right! Right now the pot appears to float in midair but she will be adding logs under the pot as part of the embellishment. Here is her quilt top before I started quilting.

The quilting should have been a fast, straightforward project. I started off with a rayon variegated thread that has wonderful earthy colours and I wanted to use it for the foreground BUT no matter what I do or which machine I use it on I have problems with it shredding. Tension adjustments don't help. Larger/smaller needles don't help. I've tried it on three different machines with no success and that leads me to believe the problem is with the thread. So after ten minutes of sewing (ten minutes too many) I spent an hour of reverse sewing. ARGHHHH! I switched to a Gutermann 50 wt cotton thread that is variegated dark brown. It quilted the foreground beautifully.

I used a variegated Gutermann thread for the midground and again it worked beautifully. I move on to the background and at the risk of repeating myself.......ARGHHHH! I was using a Sulky variegated 12wt thread and it shredded like crazy. I adjusted the tension to no avail. Switched needles and no change. Rethreaded the machine top and bottom with no change. I would  move up to a topstitch 16 needle but I ran out. ARGHHH yet again.

I'll just persevere and when the thread breaks as it does I'll rethread and start again. It is a wall hanging so it won't be a problem as far as the threads working their way out. I do like the texture this heavy thread is giving to the background but am frustrated. If you have any suggestions I am open to them!

Ventura0404 asked where I buy my fabric. I reply to every comment unless you are a no reply blogger in which case I have no way to contact you unless you include your email address. Since I can't email Ventura0404 I'll answer her question here. I live in a large city but quilt shops have almost all disappeared. There is a local fabric store, Fabricland, that is part of a large Canadian chain. It carries quilting fabric so I often buy my fabric there. Other than that I have to shop online. I have bought from Hancocks's of Paducah, Fabric Shack, Thousands of Bolts, Quilt in a Day, Connecting Threads and eBay. If I am looking for a particular fabric I'll go to QuiltShops.com where I can search over 200 shops for just the right fabric. What about you'where do you shop?

I'm off to sew with my friends today. Until tomorrow when I post Block 8 in my Value Proposition Hexagon Quilt Along, happy sewing!
Karen H