What a wonderful first, I think the piping would be the finishing touch, and what the heck, it looks like you like a challenge.
As for striving for better, Well short story here: My DIL is trying to learn to quilt. And I was trying to tell her what some of the goals were eg, seams matching. Anyway, when she was doing it she was then upset that they weren't (matching).
I felt bad, because I told her they should line up, so I had to give a second lecture---these things come from practice, and you can't not quilt and expect to get better. Just because they don't doesn't mean the quilt is no good. There are no perfect ones, and the really bad ones are still warm and cuddly, and we won't tell non-quilters that the seams should match. If we stress over it the fun will be gone. Aim to do better and accept imperfections as character.