100 Wishes Quilt

There is a tradition, Bai Jia Bei, which originated in the northern part of China in Tianjin, which sits within China’s Hebei Province, just south of Beijing. Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt, involves asking friends and family to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby. The cloth patches are sewn together into a quilt. This quilt is passed down from generation to generation. A small section of the cloth patch goes into a memory book or chest with the wish for the child written on paper, so that each patch on the quilt can later be matched with the wish.

Although it is unknown at this time how long it will be before we are matched with our daughter, I thought it would nice to get started collecting the 100 wishes. Below are the instructions for submitting a wish. If there are several family members, please feel free to submit more than one piece of fabric and wish. Please feel free to pass along this information to others who may want to participate. I am sure there are many people that we may not have even met that have heard about our adoption story and are praying for us. So, please pass this along to them. You can submit your wish by passing along to us or one of our family members or contacting a family member to get our address.

Instructions:

1. Choose a 100% cotton fabric that you like. It can be from a fabric store,fabric you already have, or something that is special to you or maybe even has a special family meaning.

2. Prewash the fabric in hot water so it shrinks and is clean. Then iron it so that it is straight enough for cutting.

3. Cut two 8”x 8” squares. (One will be used to make the quilt and one will be attached to the wish)

4. Write/type your wish. The wish can be your own words or thoughts, a favorite poem or quote, a blessing for the new arrival, a prayer for our daughter, a favorite verse, or whatever. Your wish can be as simple or elaborate as you’d like. If you feel creative and want to decorate it, that would be great. You can also include a picture of yourself if you would like so she can see who sent the wish. I will make a scrap book for the wishes. (If you are as uncreative as I am, you can google 100 wishes quilt to get ideas.)