Hi Everyone!
First, I would like to say that I LOVE this board!!
Everyone here is so nice and helpful!

I am very new to quilting. I just started working on my first quilt ever and I am soooooo excited!!!! :mrgreen:

I was wondering where I might be able to find some templates to trace for hand quilting. I machine pieced my quilt top and want to try hand quilting to get the feel for it and see if I am any good at it haha.

My fabric has A LOT of dragonflys on it and also some butterflys and flowers.

I am preferably looking for a template of a dragonfly with maybe also a butterfly template and a flower or two or maybe a pretty leaf design.

Here is the fabric I used. The back is the same as the green but in Yellow. And I have turned the green stripes vertical.

http://www.joann.com/joann/shop/shop...9/369799_p.jpg

http://www.joann.com/joann/shop/shop...9/369798_p.jpg

http://www.joann.com/joann/shop/shop...9/362290_p.jpg

http://www.joann.com/joann/shop/shop...7/365379_p.jpg

Any comments would be MUCH appreciated. I feel a little lost with all of this but I am excited to take this adventure! :D

Check at Joan's. They have quilting stencils in the quilting area. If you can't find what you want there, check in the painting section and in the scrapbooking section.

I was hoping for something free as I have a small budget to work with each week and I just spent this week's on the backing and the batting.

You can check on the internet for clip art of dragonflies. Then enlarge/shrink them to the size you want. Print them on freezer paper and iron them onto your quilt and sew right through them. Tear them away when finished.

and the freezer paper wont leave a film or anything sticky?

Not freezer paper. It's used by quilters everywhere for paper piecing.

Great! Thank you so much for your help!

Your fabric is just gorgeous!! Did you post a finished picture of the top?? We would all love to see it....

I havent yet, but I will take a picture when I get home and try to post it tonight :) I am really excited about it! Its my "own design"

Not sure if this is something you are looking for or not, but they are free motifs...just look under Free Patterns, then about 1/2 way down the page, there are the motifs. http://www.forestquilting.com
Hope this helps....starting out can get so expensive :)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!!!!! This is totally what I am looking for! Thank you!!!!!! :thumbup:

You're welcome. Can't wait to see the finished product :) No pressure, just love pictures of other ppl's work--inspires me to finish my WIPs.

Oh I almost forgot, check out your library when you get a chance. They usually have some great books you can check out and (using the freezer paper) you can trace the ones you like.

I cant wait to try out this freezer paper method!

You could simply trace patterns off your fabric to use as templates and enlarge them on a photocopier, if necessary.

I cant believe I never thought of that. I guess I am just too excited!

That would be a great idea thought because then they would match my fabric!
Thanx Prism!

You know, for a first-time hand quilter, my suggestion is to just do straight lines first. They are much easier than trying to work around a pattern. You can lay some painter's tape (that blue stuff) down on the quilt as a guide; it won't leave any sticky residue.

You could do all straight lines, or you could do just enough straight lines to make large blocks and then quilt a dragonfly or butterfly inside each large block.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

Thank you all for your help! It means a lot to me since I am sort of on my own with this quilting thing here.

I always seem to tend to go big when trying something for the first time. Bad habit I have I guess haha
But I think I might try the straight lines first and then the dragonfly thing!

I hadn't heard of this site. Thanks for mentioning it. It can be helpful to lots of us.

dear i know what your talking about.when you pinch that penny till it yells.
i make a lot of my own stincles.i looked at your fabric an you could trace one of you dragonflys off your material an either inlarge itwith your computer or make it smaller.if

Thats a beautiful butterfly...Thank you so much!

I just want to say that I REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciate all the help you ladies are giving me!

i have you abutterfly under my name so you can use it ok

dizzy - what an awesome design - it looks like it's continuous -

what do we need to do to get your permission to use it?

I don't care who uses it i don't mind sharing

Thank you.

when i lived in Indiana i went to the libary an got found two books of quilting designs that i made sure i got them copied.an it said in the front of the book anybody cuold use them.an i knew i wasn't going to be living in Fort Wayne much longer an i couldn't just hop in the van an go get the book an get a pattern out of it. so i traced copies out of it.anput it in a binder so they wouldn't get damaged.you all would not believe my sewing room i have material that i know is at least 30 yrs old because K-mart hasn't sold yard goods since before i got out of high school.my room is 11'x16' an i need that much more room just to move all i got in there is a walk way.an that aint all of it. my hubby an i are going to add on to this trailor so i can have a bigger room,

That was very kind and generous of you dizzy!!! Thank You :D :D :D

You can also trace out of color books, the lines there are very simple to follow :wink:

My thots too! Prism....that would kinda tie everything together.. OR go on line and google coloring books in whatever design you are looking for..

for quilting patterns check a childs coloring book from a dollar store If they have to many fine lines you can always just get the shape that you want Hope this helps

The last time I looked for coloring books - I didn't see any with the simple shapes - they all had scenes with lots and lots of lines

Good luck. Try using cookie cutters or simple line drawings in coloring books. I personally prefer continious line quilting patterns. They were created for longarming but they work great for handquilting.

I wanted to add, If you need a template of something. You can search for ie, dragonfly coloring pages. and you get free drawings from many sites