I just posted this to someone elses post, but thought you all would like to see. If you are long arming or using your domestic machine, a "cheap" way to get patterns is to hit the dollar stores. Use shapes to quilt around. You may already have a ton of these in your scrapbooking supplies. Be creative!!

Thanks great Idea,

Awesome ideas, thanks for sharing with us

well,...hang me ! That's a great, inexpensive way to do it! thanks for the idea.

Thank you for sharing this with us :D:D:D

What a novel idea!

Clever!

Great tip, I also trace things on freezer paper & then stitch around the shapes.

Awesome!!!

I sometimes use the foam stars that I got at Walmart. They are for children's craft projects but are good to pin on at intervals when FMQ. I like to do loop de loops between stars but was having trouble getting consistent coverage. Now I use my square and place a shape every 6 inches and pin in place. I don't worry about accidently hitting the shape with my needle because they are soft foam.

Thanks for the super idea! I want to remember it.

Thanks, Harriet..that's a great idea!! Another thing I do is go online to coloring book pages and look for simple outlines of kids stuff to make into pantographs. I print out the one, and then make xeroxes and tape them together into a continuous line. It works great!!!

What a good idea! I have traced around cookie cutters in the past. Usually, you can find them marked down after holidays or sometimes big buckets with a variety of different shapes.

Great idea!!!

Look at all the great ideas. Keep going gals, you are really helping the "Newbies".

some great ideas!! walk around the house you will find lots of patterns to use

I've also bought the wooden shapes from Michaels and Joann's. They sell them in the paint department and are sometimes only about 4/$1.00. I've used a teddy bear and flowers.