I have done quite a bit of my quilting by hand...I have used stencils, and lightly drawn like an s shape meander with a purple pen, then do my quilting stitch along it...spray with water after and the pen disappears...I also will trace off shapes that might work with the quilt design, like a star, or animal shape...I do it the same way...I only learned about machine quilting 3 yrs ago, and I wish I could get fmq down, but I am just not good at it...probably practicing more would help...lol..
Kif