I'm not even sure why at this time, but a long time ago I took a beginning quilting class at a local fabric store. To promote the class, there were many beautiful quilts hanging all around the shop, so I think I was just ready for something besides sewing clothes for the family and curtains for the kitchen! The class was so long ago, rotary cutters had not been invented. We made templates and drew around them, then cut everything out with scissors. We made several different blocks, such as nine patch and Sunbonnet Sue, etc. Every stitch was by hand, too.
The first actual quilt I made was a wallhanging for my daughter, who wanted something to hang above her bed in her first apartment. I made the design and the templates and did all of the cutting, sewing, and quilting by hand because it's all I knew.
Then along came Saturday morning quilting shows on TV, the rotary cutter, cutting mats, and rulers - and machine quilting! Not that there is anything at all wrong with templates and scissors and hand quilting. It's been interesting to see the changes in quilting over the years.