Sounda like you are coming along. My friend and I used cheap fabric and made 3 king size quilts before attempting to do an actual quilt. The animals at the shelters don't care what quality the fabric is. We tried large prints to practice curves, tried designes, patterns, etc. This was done on the practice quilt and found that if we kept the regulator number higher it worked better. Music that has a slow beat will also help you keep your speed somewhat more even as you "move" to the music.
Practice is defnitely needed.
We are using a size 16 needle and Superior/King Tut thread. YLI also worked quite well but many of the others seemed to break or fray at the needle.
Hope this helps. :-) Doeremi