Thanks for the tute! You did a great job laying all the instructions out.
I use Excel 2007 to design blocks and whole quilt layouts. I have not needed to use Paint as I use fabric from my stash and put the actual picture of the fabric on to the design page. I put a memory card in my computer slot, scan the fabric I already have, and a window opens up for me to save the fabric. I save it in a blank Word document, use the snipping tool in my start menu under accessories, and save that snippet to a picture file. (Options all come up automatically, I just do what is asked when the windows pop up.) I also use the shapes option in Excel, insert that into the page, then press insert, shape fill, picture, and it brings up picture file where I can insert the fabric. It goes directly into the shape I put on the page. I then save it. That shape can be moved around the page anywhere you want. You can copy it and paste it to create many shapes on the page. You can also click on edit shape (listed in box with the actual shape drawings) and click on convert to freeform. This allows you to re-create that shape in different forms. Play around with editing and it is amazing what you can do.