I am in the process of hand quilting a baby quilt for my daughter (baby #2 arriving in August) and I am using cardboard stencils I saved from when my children were little. The stencils are sturdy and are making such cute little objects (cats, dogs, hearts, bears, flowers, rabbits and ducks) I used a bigger heart stencil putting it together in a group of 4 to make it look like a flower which I used for the bigger blocks. Every single block has some kind of stencil in it that I am hand quilting around. Yes, there are so many things one can use. It's almost like being a little kid again, making up stuff with what ever you have on hand. Oh and I drew out each stencil on press and seal wrap then stuck it to my blocks (pinning around the outside of the stencil itself), sewing on the lines of my drawing, then carefully tearing away the plastic wrap. It is working wonderfully, even on dark fabric.