I love strip piecing and most often make quilts that I can cut strips with my rotary cutter and ruler. However, some quilts call for templates when there are odd shaped pieces. I've been known to cut out paper templates from sandpaper and trace around them and then cut them out, but use plastic templates when possible. Right now, I am making a double wedding ring quilt and I bought a plastic template set and it makes the cutting a little easier and faster.