Machine quilting woes

Over the past few weeks, I haven't really felt much like sewing.  I've worked on a couple of small projects, but nothing interesting.

I have, however, still been thinking about sewing.  There has been an unfinished project weighing on me lately.  I started this quilt back in 1998, shortly after moving to Colorado.  I finished the top, but it has just been taking up space in my sewing room. 

Over the past few weeks, though, I bought some batting and found some backing fabric.  Yesterday, I went to one of my favorite local quilt stores and bought some white machine quilting thread. Last night, my wonderful husband helped me maneuver the fabric to complete the backing, batting, top sandwich.

Today, I started quilting.  It has not gone so well.  While I invested in the good, heavy machine quilting thread, the thread keeps breaking after I get 6-8 inches sewn.  The front looks fine:

The back, though, is showing all the stops and starts:

I can feel where the thread is catching.  I just have to figure out how to fix it.

On the plus side, though, working on this quilt is a good thing.