Quilting - second go around

Remember this quilt?

I started quilting it months ago but hated my quilting so much, it ended up on the WIP pile.  This weekend, I unfolded the quilt, assessed the situation and started quilting new meandering feathers on the half I hadn't quilted.  I should mention that I first straight lined quilted around the triangles but the quilt still needed something.

Now I have half a quilt with feathers (pictured from the back):

with my trusty paperweight ...

Now I have the enviable task of taking the crappy quilting.  So far, I've managed to remove just a few blocks worth of ugly feathers.  It's super slow going.  I also ran out of thread and an hunting around for a source on the internet.  I'm using two different kinds of YLI variegated 40 wt. quilting thread I had picked up at a quilt show a few years ago.   I found the thread at various websites, but not the two of them together in one place.  ***sigh**

Generally when I start free-motion quilting, I warm up on a small scrap to check my stitches.  Just take a couple of scraps and sandwich it with a scrap of batting - the same kind that you are using in your quilt, and quilt away.  Here are my doodles from the other day:

I had to adjust my tension up quite a bit to get my stitches looking good on the back.  The tension is affected by various factors such as the type thread, needle, fabric, batting, etc., so don't skip this step.   

At the same time, I'm warming up, playing with the designs I'm considering, and auditioning thread colors.  Now I have these fun little scraps floating around the house ... I suppose I could make them into coasters.  The leaf scrap was a little piece I had in my scrap bin from practicing needle-turn applique.