I have used a free site called quiltingstudio.com to help visualize my ideas, I have never followed a pattern completely, I mix and match what I want to use, but I have only made 3 quilts now. This site is pretty user friendly, it has a limited amount of basic block designs, but you can put sashing between the blocks, 2 borders, and keep changing the colors as much as you want, and also save your designs. You can make use two difference block and have them alternate which changes everything about the way it looks. It's great for me as a newbie quilter to get ideas for free. Let me know how you like it?
http://www.quiltingstudio.com/Quilti...ngStudio3.html