I am not sure if this is"cheating" or not but it sure cut down on my quilting time...I bought plastic templates at joann's a while back and they were a time saver. The package included 6 sizes of stars. When doing my GS's tote bag i got them out. I just used 1 peice of tape and quilted around the star, one at a time. I was done with the entire bag in 20 min. No marking, no chalk, no mess!