I had to grin at this thread--my sis is very artistic and creative. And while she excels at handwork, her machine piecing & quilting is so/sew! I am more of "technician"--which means more exactness in piecing and it sure helps with maintaining my long arm! That being said, I too would like to be more "free" in my design work, so really appreciate the ideas given for resources.
I did buy EQ7 and have 2 future designs saved that are mine and I think pretty creative. I'm also talking to some quilting buddies about starting a group that does exchanges of blocks/quilts--I heard a group present to our Guild on this and it really seemed to have opened up their thinking about their designs--and isn't that what creativity really is?