I just noticed that you can go to Microsoft online and download a graph paper template. It has small, medium, and large graphs. Here's the link but I had a link in my Excel 2003.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...nstalled=1&c=0

I also use Excel. It really works great.

Tried using this today - I'm using an old version of Open Office Calculator, and that probably has something to do with the problems I encountered. I tried to update, but it wouldn't do it.

Anyway, I wanted to print, as I was working up some easy quilts for a charity group. Kept telling me that there was nothing there to print. After adding some text, it showed that it would print, HOWEVER, halfway through coloring my squares, I found that it quit adding color, like it ran out of pain or something :) I have no idea why it did that, but it just refused to color squares anymore.

So I copied and painted the empty grid (the quilt "skeleton" I'd made by outlining squares in Calculator) into Paint, and WOW, that's the way to go (for me). Since I was using the paint bucket to fill in squares, it went much faster in Paint than it had having to chose the color for each square again in Calculator, and the problem I'd had before with Paint was that I couldn't get a good blank grid. This works perfectly, and I never, ever would have figured it out without your tutorial. THANK YOU!

O M G.. You are a genius. Especially for those who can't afford the money for Equilter Software. Thank you so much.. I'm already playing with this.

great idea.

Oooh! I am going to have fun with this!

Thank you

Can't wait to try some of these techniques. Thanks to all who contributed.

I can't even believe that I found this! Thank you so much. I have been using excel at work and realized the possibilities - but - never, ever would have been able to come up with all of this. You must be far younger than I! Lol. Bookmarking!

You do not need to be young to use this method. I am 70 and have been designing quilts and Swedish Weave on Excel for years. Give yourself credit - if you are using Excel at work, then you can do it here. If you need help, PM me.

Thank you so much!!!! This has got to be the most interesting/helpful post I have seen in a long time!!!

Thank you to all that have contributed the Cosman and Graph paper links.

I'm getting a new computer tomorrow, and can't wait to download the software and give designing a try. I have EQ5, but don't really have the time to learn and of course, now there are so many upgrades.

I'm looking forward to trying on EXCEL/PAINT and the Cosman product!!!!

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN...................

this is a great tut. thanks.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love this tutorial!!! I've been photo-copying my fabrics, cutting the printed papers & pasting them together to see how they'll look. Tedious and not eco-friendly... This method is awesome! I have MS Office 2003 on my computer so don't have to feel bad about not being able to afford EQ7 software anymore - and - I won't be wasting paper. Thank you for showing this processes so clearly and simply.

Kathleen

Does anyone know how to use excel to sort the color blocks into a random layout for a scrappy quilt?

can this be done on Open Office. It is similar Windows Office.

Yes, as noted in Lucy's original message.

Just FYI, when you add "View -> Toolbars -> Drawing", they will show up at the bottom of Calc's window.
Also, see message #10.

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.

Great, great tute! I've been looking for an affordable, used EQ but now maybe I won't have to. Thanks so much.

I just scan an actual piece of my fabric and use that.

thank you so much for this idea!

wow going ro have to give that a try.. thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the great information!

Thanks for the tutorial. You did a great job. I had thought about using Excel but didn't try it. I must be blind. I couldn't find the attachments. This is the first time using threads...

I think that they were removed. I was going to upload a couple simpler files of my own, but the board won't allow me to upload any type of spreadsheet file. You do have pictures that Lucy provided and directions, so hopefully you can figure it out from those. Send me a private message if you need more info.

Thanks for letting me know. I really appreciate it!!!!!

crafty1218, I sent you a private message. Did you receive it?

How can we do triangles with Excel?
 

Is there any trick or tip in Excel to do triangles for a design

I don't think the OP nor many of the others have been on for quite a while as this is an old thread

I haven't read the whole thread, but there is a graph template at https://templates.office.com/en-US/S...per%20template I noticed in my Excel 2013 that in >Insert >Shapes that there is a triangle and I think one can change the colors. Also, one could make a diagonal in >Format Cells (from right click) but one cannot fill with two colors, that way.

Janey - Neat people never make the exciting discoveries I do.
Not affiliated with off-site link(s)

I have used Microsoft Publisher and Word to do quilt layouts. I use Insert Table to create the graph and Insert Shapes for rectangles. HSTs, flying geese and chevrons. You can take shapes and recolor them then stack them and group them together to make something like a HST and then duplicate and rotate as many as you need.
I recently did this one for a friend.