the texture problems you are having on that plane as far as i have experienced is because there are no subdivisions on it.
If you add some more geometry to the plane the texture should render just fine and should display properly.

As for the model, it looks really good. The ears look a little funny to me because the rest of the face seems to be so common - for a face anyways. But I like the detail.
The hat looks really good too, can't wait to see some textures on that.

The facial textures could use a bit more attention like you said. The eyebrows look a little funny, though the lips are looking pretty good. You might also want to add some colour variation to the texture on the face.

The hair sounds like a cool idea, can't wait to see it.
And let me know if adding subdivisions to your plan helped with texture display.

-Alex