Several years back, I bought QuiltPro. It's good quilt designsoftware , although there are several other good ones. When I saw a quilt or block I liked, for example in a sewing machine ad, I would reproduce the pattern on my computer. After awhile, I began to understand the underlying principles of design and had more self assurance in creating my own. I also have about 1500 blocks I have entered in my data base, any 2 or 3 I can combine into new blocks, which I may then tweak. The computer is such an easy tool to use in searching for the right things to add to a project, without taking shelves and sheves of space or costing valuable fabric money.