sschick, If I am doing a simple meander, I don't mark the quilt at all. I make a small, placemat size sample quilt to practice and get the motion worked out. Once the placemat sample is done I bind and use them for the Senior Center. Once I have done a bit of practice, I move onto the quilt. Mine are certainly not perfect by any means, but the mistakes get lost in the overall quilt. And once washed, even I can't find those slip ups.:-)
I have also used a roll of the examination paper and a stencil to draw the design on the paper. I repeat the width of the quilt as many times as needed to cover the quilt. Pin one paper to the quilt sandwich and quilt the design through the paper. Add a second paper and repeat until the quilt is done. Once done I remove the paper. Honestly this takes as long as the quilting but allows me a fancy design that I could not replicate without having a path to follow. I am not able to follow the pattern exactly and may wander off a bit but once done and the paper is removed you will not be able to tell you veered off line. I have also used a large flower print for the backing and quilted the flowers from the back of the quilt so the design shows on the front. Please allow yourself to relax and enjoy the process. Hopefully this will get you started.