I do mostly ruler and fmq quilting. For borders with repetative elements, l give myself registration marks, l measure/ mark...eg: a tick mark for center of each spiral, a slash line that's the center vein of a leaf motif. I use a white chalk holder on dark fabric, and the air erase purple marking pens on lights. These are markings l do with each advance.
if doing a whole cloth effect, l'd use the blue water erase pen and mark the skeletin of the entire top, then fill in more detail if neede with air erase ( or chalk).