I took a class from a pro (Karen McTavish). She had me first use a ruler to do stitch in the ditch over the quilt. This helps make the various elements more visible and also stabilizes the whole quilt top. (I was using a long arm but would also work on a sit down). Then I drew a few freehand lines in some of the larger areas to divide them up a bit, and then I used free motion to fill in the areas. It was fun, but time consuming. I don't like rulers very much, but I certainly could see the point of using them to stabilize and clarify certain areas like star points.