There is a tradition in the northern part of China to make a Bai Jia Bei, or "100 Good Wishes Quilt" to welcome and celebrate a new life. It is a custom to invite 100 friends and family members to contribute a single square of material. The 100 pieces of material are then sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. Even though we are adopting from Korea and not China, we love the idea of welcoming our Noah into our home with a quilt that represents the good wishes from our family and friends.
HERE IS WHAT WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO DO:
(1) Choose any 100% cotton fabric that you like.
(2) Please send at least a 12"x12" square; 1/3 yard would be even better! If you are mailing the fabric to us please place it in a Ziploc bag to ensure that the fabric does not get wet as its being mailed.
(3) On an acid free piece of paper or card include your "good wish note" and attach a small piece of your fabric to the paper/card (2 x 2 piece). Please include the date and your name/s on the card. All of the "good wishes" will be incorporated into a special memory book.
IDEAS FOR SELECTING A PIECE OF FABRIC:
(1) Select a fabric that is meaningful to you, a favorite color, design, etc.
(2) Make sure the fabric is 100% cotton (NO fleece, corduroy, wool or silk please).
(3) If there are several members in your family, please feel free to send more than one good wish note and piece of fabric. In China, these quilts were originally made from the garments of family members and friends to surround the child with luck and good wishes.
IDEAS FOR GOOD WISHES NOTES:
What you would wish for Noah to have in his life? Good wishes could include a favorite poem, a bible verse, a quote, advice you would like to pass along, etc. They can be as sentimental, funny, or serious as you would like. This is your wish – it should reflect you! : )
Need some inspiration? You can check out the wishes that were given for Spencer's quilt.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to help us create this very special quilt. We can't wait to see the fabric and wishes for our sweet boy.
