I can buy a lot of graph paper for the price of EQ. I know a lot of people have EQ and love it but for me I'd rather spend that money of fabric. I also am a slower quilter so would have to make a lot more quilts than I do to justify (to me) the expense of the software. Isolating the repeating pattern and dissecting it is mostly what it takes and that does get easier with practice. The challenge for me is in which way to press the seams and constructing the quilt that a pattern will give you.