Yeah, you can get a lot of stuff from the internet for free, but not the real experience of seeing what's "out there". 15 minutes in any fabric/craft/quilting store will have you overloaded with simple patterns. Some people NEED to buy the pattern book and read and follow the printed directions. It really won't bankrupt you to buy just one quilting book. (Stopping with just one is the hard part.)Actually I get some of my best ideas by just browsing through the quilting books at JoAnns.