I have been handquilting for around 15 years and I always draw a line to follow or quilt next to painters tape for long straight lines. Thin batting helps a lot. I do not like to hand quilt with W&N batting. It is good for machine quilting but not hand IMHO. I like the way a nice poly bat needles, like Quilters Dream. I like 80/20 blends to like Hobbs. My next handquilting project will be with wool batting. I understand that is very easy to handquilt but very expensive. Having the sandwich not too tight in the hoop helps. Start with a larger size needle, like a 9 until you get comfortable with a rythm. Some people only take 1 or 2 stitches at a time and some like to load the needle up. Find what works best for you to get them evenly spaced. Once you get spacing down you can try switching to a smaller size needle and that helps for getting them smaller.