A new skill?

So I decided to try hand quilting. I really need some handwork to do when I'm away from my machine and thought hand quilting would be great. What the heck. I can sew a running stitch, right? Not so easy as it looks. I fumbled and fumed and threw away my first attempt. Here's what I just finished. Not to bad from a birds eye view, but don't get too close.

Now I know I can fill all those blank spaces with some curves that I was afraid to quilt on the machine. I had a terrible time getting my first stitch to be the same size as the rest of the stitches on the needle. I tried everything but that first stitch is tough for me. I tried in the hoop and out of the hoop, I tried different needles and putting the thimble on different fingers. Nothing worked. So I guess it's practice, practice, practice for me.

Any suggestions for a newby hand quilter?

Pardon the picture quality. I took them with my iPhone. I also sent this post from my email account. But I had to edit the post to get the pictures to not be at the top of the post. I still can't figure out how to avoid having to move the pictures everytime I post.