Bai Jia Bei or 100 Good Wishes Quilt

Many of our family and friends have received a letter from us regarding the Bai Jia Bei or One Hundred Good Wish Quilt and were asked to send us, if they could, a square of cotton fabric with a good wish for our child. The squares are going to be made into a quilt and the wishes will be put into a book with a piece of the fabric so that we can identify who gave what fabric for the quilt and see their wish for our child. This is truly a keepsake that will be handed down from generation to generation (I hope).

What is a "100 Good Wishes Quilt" you ask??

Legend has it that to welcome and celebrate a new life, there is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a "Bai Jia Bei" or "100 Good Wishes Quilt". It is custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passes down from generation to generation.

I belong to a couple of Yahoo groups of waiting parents who are also participating in the Bai Jia Bei and we have swapped fabrics and wishes as well. We are right on target with the squares and will hopefully be reading to start work on the quilt soon.

I will be working on getting pictures together to post so you can see some the beautiful fabrics and creative ways that the wished have been coming in--this is a real fun project--you never know what is going to be waiting for you in the mailbox when you get home.

So keep checking back--I should have some of the many "squishes" (squares + wishes) that we have received posted soon.