Congratulations for buying it for yourself! The learning curve is very easy. The books will start you out from start to finish and go as detailed as you like or as simple as you like. Connecting Threads have all their fabric lines in EQ6 format you can download into the fabric library and EQ website has all the latest fabric lines you can download every month. I seldom have to scan my fabrics, I can find the fabric in the EQ library. I rarely have to buy a quilt pattern, I can draft any pattern by picture but EQ does not tell you how to construct the pattern or the short cuts to making the blocks.