Hi everyone, wow so much friendly advice. I appreciate everyone's reply.
I am not locked into 10 inch blocks, but I'm looking for something really unintimidating to start with and 10 inch blocks seemed like a good idea. But I am not experienced enough to really know for sure what I want to do at this point, so I will definitely put more stock in the opinions of experienced quilters if anyone has alternate suggestions.
My two year old wants a purple pony quilt and my four year old wants a race car quilt of undetermined color. Most likely red, but it will depend on which race car pattern(s) I choose.
I do have the book "Your first quilt book (or it should be)" but I was put off by all the complicated-looking diagrams and lack of photographs. I am probably being unfair, this was just a first impression and I haven't really sat down to read it yet. Also I don't want to do any shapes other than squares for my first quilt ... I just want it to be really straightforward so I can go from there.
Thank you again ... the "Simple Nine Patch" link does look like a simple one. It's also probably a good idea to do something a little smaller first ... I'll have to put some thought into what.
Becki