I recently purchased the Quilt Wizard software thru eBay for under $20 including shipping. It's really fun and easy to use! As much as I'd like EQ, it's out of my price range. This is a great alternative! I did try a freebie trial of one of the shareware programs (I forget the name), but it was so limited, it wasn't worth the bother.
The "magic" button is really cool. I created a log cabin design, clicked ctrl+magic buttons at same time and it changes to a different layout each time you click. Sure beats crawling on the floor to re-arrange them all! LOL