You might go back and read some previous posts about Electric Quilt software, there have been a few discussions.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...?highlight=EQ7
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...-a-t80082.html
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...e-t215423.html
Also, there is a series of EQ tutorials posted right here on the board. If you end up getting EQ7, you might find these helpful.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/tags/Electric%20Quilt.html
EQ7 is basically computer-aided design for quilts, all you need is a computer. They do not offer a Mac version, so if you are using a Mac you will need a windows virtual machine. It does not hook up to a longarm or embroidery machine. There is a separate module for embroidery, I don't know much about it, but it requires the purchase of both the embroidery software AND EQ7.
You can design quilts, quilt blocks, applique, import pictures for tracing, design quilting patterns and see how they'd look on your quilt. You can print out yardage estimates, templates, paper-piecing patterns, color images of what the quilt would look like. I used it to design scallops on a quilt - no tracing around plates and I was able to customize the size of the scallop to get exactly what I wanted.