I don’t care how many times you tell them, some people are convinced they’re not creative and, well, some folks are downright afraid to make blocks for The 70273 Project. Afraid they’ll do it wrong – Afraid of embarrassing themselves – Afraid to not know something.

Here’s how you can help them help us: if someone can’t (for whatever reason) donate blocks, maybe they’ll donate bucks. In addition to blocks and quilts, The 70273 Project has financial needs, so you see, there’s a way for everybody to help commemorate the 70273 people who died.

And here’s how I’ll help you help them help us . . . I’ve created several birthday cards ready for you to download, fold, sign, and mail. The cards ask people to donate blocks or bucks or both to The 70273 Project as a way to celebrate your birthday (and yes, there’s one for belated birthdays). In the coming weeks, I’ll be adding designs for other special occasions like Just Because, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, New Year’s, St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s, and well, you get the picture. Please let me know about appropriate holidays in the part of the world you call home, and I’ll design cards for those special occasions. I’ll even design one especially for you if you’d like. Just email me the particulars and give me 5-7 days to create it and email it back to you in ready-to-print .pdf form.

The cards print on one 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper, and if you live in a part of the world where there’s a different sized paper and will email me the measurements, I’ll create cards to print on your paper.

To use the cards:
1. Download the card you want to send.
2. Align the top edge of the page to the bottom edge, and crease to fold the paper in half.
3. Bring the two side edges together and crease to fold the paper in half again.
4. Sign the card.
5. Send to everybody you can think of.

These cards fit in 4.25″ x 5.75″ greeting card envelopes.  If you order them by using this link or the link in the right sidebar, it doesn’t cost you any more than ordering directly from Amazon, and The 70273 Project earns a few pennies on the purchase.

Here are the cards. Simply click the image to download:

Birthday Card #1, front:

70273birthdaycard1front

Birthday Card #1, inside:
This year I’ve added extra candles to my cake
and I’ll blow out each one with a wish
that you’ll help me celebrate
by making a block
or donating a buck
(or both)
in support of
the 70273 Project!

Birthday Card #2, front:

70273birthdaycard2front

Birthday card #2, inside:
What would I like to find in this box?
A note saying that you’ll help me celebrate
by making a block
or donating a buck
(or both)
in support of
The 70273 Project!

Birthday Card #3, front:

70273birthdaycard3front

Birthday card #3, inside:
Help me celebrate
by making a block
or donating a buck
(or both)
in support of
The 70273 Project!

Birthday card #4, front:

70273birthdaycard4front

Birthday card #4, inside:
This year, won’t you please
help me celebrate my birthday
by making a block
or donating a buck
(or both)
in support of 
The 70273 Project?

Birthday card #5, front:

70273birthdaycard5front

Birthday card #5, inside:
This year, won’t you please
help me celebrate my birthday
by making a block
or donating a buck
(or both)
in support of
The 70273 Project?

Birthday card #6, front:

70273birthdaycard6front

Birthday card #6, inside:
This year please don’t give me
something I have to wash or dust.
Help me celebrate my birthday
by making a block
or donating a buck
(or both)
in support of
The 70273 Project!

Birthday card #7, front:

70273birthdaycard7front

Birthday card #7, inside:
and celebrate my birthday
by making a block
or donating a buck
(or both)
in support of
The 70273 Project!

Birthday card belated #1, front

70273birthdaycardbelated1front

Birthday card belated #1, inside:
You can help me celebrate my birthday
(or any other day, for that matter)
by making a block
or donating a buck
(or both)
in support of The 70273 Project.

Also inside each and every card . . .
Panel #2:
Jeanne Hewell-Chambers
is gathering quilt blocks
from around the world
(70,273 of them, to be exact)
to commemorate each of the
70,273 physically and mentally
disabled people who were
murdered by German Nazis in 1940-41.

Panel #3:
The base of the block is white to represent the medical records – the only information used by assessing physicians to make their evaluations. On the base are two red X’s to represent the death sentence because when two assessing physicians placed a red X on the medical record, the person’s fate was sealed and they were immediately murdered.

Because each block commemorates a perfectly imperfect person, blocks can be perfectly imperfect, too.

There are only other two guidelines:
~ finished blocks must be made in one of three sizes 3.5″ x 6.5″ (9 cm x 16.5 cm) or 6.5″ x 9.5″ (16.5 cm x 24.2 cm) or 9.5″ x 12.5″ (24.2 cm x 31.8 cm)
~ A completed and signed Provenance Form (release) must accompany the blocks

Panel #4:
For more information about The 70273 Project, visit www.The70273Project.org.

For more information on making blocks, fabric selection, the downloadable Provenance Form, and more, see The 70273 Project Directory in the right sidebar.

To make a donation, click on the “Donate” button in the right sidebar and follow the directions or mail a check made payable to The 70273 Project, Inc. and mail to POB 994 / Cashiers, NC 28717. The 70273 Project, Inc. is a 501(c)3 organization, so donations are tax deductible.

Thank you for helping me celebrate my birthday in such a meaningful way!

And dear Readers, Makers, Piecers, Quilters, and Donors . . . however you participate, thank you for helping commemorate the 70273 people who might otherwise go forgotten.

~~~

Other places to find and support The 70273 Project:

Subscribe to the blog (where all information is shared).

Join the English-speaking Facebook group – our e-campfire – where you can talk to other members of The 70273 Project Tribe.

Join the French-speaking Facebook group – our other e-campfire – where you can chat with other members of The 70273 Project Tribe.

Like the Facebook page where you can check in for frequent updates.

Follow the pinterest board for visual information.

Post using #the70273project on Instagram. (Please tag me, too, @whollyjeanne, so I don’t miss anything.)

And if you haven’t yet made some blocks, perhaps you’d like to put some cloth in your hands and join us.

Or maybe you’d like to gather friends and family, colleagues or students, club or guild members, etc. together and make a group quilt.