I do FMQ most of the time. Sometimes I stand in front of the machine, trying to decide what type of design I want to do. Inspiration comes from books on machine quilting, pictures of quits, lots of doodling on paper and so on. Sometimes I take a piece of clear vinyl plastic and put it on the quilt top and use dry erase markers to "audtion" design ideas. They can be erased. Caution: put a colored tape around the edges so you don't run off the edge and accidently mark the fabric.