I have a several tips:
*) If you want to focus on the "quilt", you can hide the columns & rows that are outside of the "quilt".
*) You can set the cells to an exact size via:
Format -> Columns -> Width
Format -> Rows -> Height.
*) If you have a particular base layout that you want to reuse later, then save it as a template, rather than a spreadsheet. Make its name something that will remind you as to what that layout pertains (e.g., 30x30_2in_sq). Then you can create a spreadsheet from that template and save setup time.
I'm not going to try to show how to do that for all spreadsheet software & versions, as it is easy to search in your Help or on the Internet for your particular software & version.