Welcome to an amazing site for encouragement and advice. I have learned so much in the few months that I have been a member.
I just had to chime in because your first quilt reminds me of my first quilt. I, too, cut each square with scissors.
I just purchased a generic walking foot on Amazon for about $12 that fit my 40 year old Bernina after I learned about its purpose on this site. Quilted my first walking foot quilt (I just stitch in the ditches....for now) and it glided across the quilt like butter! Can't believe it has been available all this time.
i use 100s of large safety pins to hold the layers together by starting in the middle and smoothing the layers out from the center. Just learned about basting spray myself, and I purchased a spray can for my next quilt.
When I quilted with the regular seam-stitching presser foot, I would "look ahead" to the next pinned area to look for overlaps. I would distribute the extra fabric in little bitty tucks rather than one noticeable one.
Didn't have that problem with the new walking foot. It made quilting sooo much easier.
Good luck with your new skills!