March/April Project HOPE: Birthday Quilt Bee Blocks

Hi everyone! It's March 7 already and that means that I better get my act together and post the Project HOPE assignment for March and April.  For this project we are reorganizing the Birthday Quilt Bee that we started last year.  We had a wonderful group of ladies who helped make blocks for quilts that were given to children who were on the 'Wrapped in Hope' birthday list.  We tried several different blocks last year and personally I thought that the string blocks looked the best and were the easiest to arrange.  Here are the three quilts that we made last year with the collected string blocks:

Aren't they great? Seriously, I love, love, love string blocks! 

This time around we will be making blocks for two children who are on the 'Wrapped in Hope' birthday list:

1.) Gabriella who will turn 1 on July 27--Her mother would like her to have a quilt made of fuchsia, aqua, and bright purple fabrics.

2.) Nisaiah will turn 11 on July 25.  He loves football, soccer, basketball and the colors yellow, black, and red.

PLUS

3.) Below I will give you a simple way use all of your paper and make few extra blocks to send. 

**I have tried to make this as clear as possible-please read carefully and if something isn't clear feel free to e-mail or leave a comment**

How to Create THREE blocks for Project HOPE:

1.) Begin with 4 pieces of 8.5X11inch white copy paper. Stack all 4 sheets of paper vertically on your cutting mat.

2.) Trim the paper to 6.5 inches--reserve the strip on the right hand side.

 3.) Square off the 6.5 inch strip to a 6.5 inch square. Discard the right hand strip.

4.) Take the reserved 4.5 inch strip piece from Step 2 and square it off to a 4.5 inch square. Reserve the right hand side strip.

 5.) Take the reserved strip from step 4 and square it off to a 4 inch square

 6.) You should have four 6.5 inch paper spares, four 4.5 inch paper squares, and four 4 inch squares. Now use  PS I Quilt's Block O' Strings tutorial to create your string blocks. 
*****EDITED TO ADD*****
There has been some confusion (I am sure due to my failure to communicate clearly) about what size and how many blocks I am looking for from each contributor.  
I am looking for each contributor to send me 3 finished string blocks for one of the children listed above.  
The sizes of the blocks should be what you see in the first picture in the post:
* One 12.5 inch block
* One 8.5 inch block
* One 7.5 inch block
I hope that is clearer--if not, please continue to ask questions. 

Here are mine before I sewed them together:

 

 And after! 3 blocks for a little more effort than it takes to make one :)

 

****Important note: For Gabriella's block--use white for the center strip.

For Nisaiah's block use black for the center strip****

Participants do not need to make blocks for both children-one child is just fine. 

Project deadline is April 30, 2012.

Please send completed blocks to 

Carin Vogelzang

5300 Hamilon Place

Dulles, VA 20189

I hope that you find this project fun, easy and rewarding.  These quilts will be a special gifts for two very special children!