Eeek Sewing Problems

Ok, so I need some help today!  I was sewing a long this weekend, finally stealing my son's nap blanket fabric away to sew it and working on that notorious chenille Cars blanket.  When crash, the bottom thread kept getting tangled!  I cannot for the life of me figure out what is causing this. 

I checked...

the bobbin: nope thread is wound tight. 

for build up in the opening in the sewing machine: some build up, cleaned it out and tried again.  Still no luck.

the tension: adjusting it didn't make a difference

the needle: I changed it, still the same problem. 

I tried sample swatches with less fabric.  The only thing I haven't tried yet, was switching up the stitch to see if that knocks some sense into me sewing machine.  I don't know if my machine has a lower tension adjustment as I've never had to use it. 

I can't imagine my machine is at its end of life, it's only 6 years old!  Hopefully I'll be able to figure out this glitch soon, I was starting to get into a good groove recently.  Please bring on your suggestions!  Once I do figure it out, sounds like a tutorial might be in the works on how to fix it, that if it's something I actually do to fix it instead of an automagically working again.  Until then bring on the suggestions, I'm anxious to get back to sewing again.