i love my leather thimbles - i use a coin thimble - it has a piece of metal at the finger tip - keeps the needle from going thru the thimble
i prefer to use warm & natural batting and cotton thread - fav thread is YLI glazed cotton. Don't like quilting thru poly batting or using a polyester thread. Just personal preference.
Even stitches are more important than teeny tiny stitches that aren't even. I think the tinier stitches will come as you quilt more.
I know it takes a while to complete a project - but that's ok w/ me