When I was teaching hand quilting classes I had my students use a good quality muslin to practice on. Don't get the 200 thread count kind as that is too dense. Mark it with a simple design such as tulip or heart. That gives you gentle curves as well as straight lines. The reason I had them use muslin is that dyes put some resistance on the fabric so muslin is easier to get started on.
Also, it is important to use a good quality hoop. (As a side note, I think it borders on "sinful" that the stores are charging such outrageous prices for hoops!) However, you want a good hoop that won't sag from the weight of the quilt. I quilt all sizes using a 14" hoop. I don't like them larger than that as I don't like to have to reach that far to quilt.
I highly recommend quilters dream cotton batting using the select or request loft. I have a lot of quilts quilted with that and the stitches show just fine. I also love wool batting, but it is much pricier than cotton or poly. A good poly batt is Thermore by Hobbs.
Also, I was taught to count my stitches the same way as the DAR people said to do. That is to count the ones on the top and the bottom. When you are sewing on a machine the top and bottom are part of the same stitch; however, when you are hand quilting they are separate. Personally I don't care for the look for too many teeny tiny stitches, but that is just my personal viewpoint. I have seen some that look like little tiny dots instead of stitches and that just doesn't appeal to me for some reason. The nice thing though is that there is something out there for everyone so you should do what you enjoy and the method you enjoy using and not get hung up on whether it is "right" or "wrong".