One Hundred Good Wishes

Welcome!

What is all this about, you ask??

In the process of reading lots of adoption blogs over the past year, I've read of several moms who have made 100 Good Wishes Quilts for their babies. In researching what that meant, I found this:

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 a 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 passed down from generation to generation.

I thought this sounded like something I could do while we're waiting for our referral. While waiting for Abby, we remodeled a room in the house to be her nursery. I don't (ever) want another project that big or that messy.

I have never made a quilt in my life. But I do know how to run a sewing machine and make straight stitches. My sister has made a baby quilt for each of her babies and also a few for nieces and nephews. She made Abby's red and yellow one. And I have several other family members who know about sewing and quilting, so I should have some support.

To get started, I joined a Yahoo group of families who sent their paperwork to China at the same time we did. This group is kind-of like a support group, so we can talk about what's going on in the world of Chinese Adoption and other issues. One of the ladies in the group hosted a quilt swap and I signed up.

The way it works is once everyone has signed up, you buy enough fabric to send each family an 8 inch square of fabric another smaller square of fabric attached to a "wish." This is commonly called a "squish" - combining the "square" and "wish." The wish can be anything you want for a new baby: health, happiness, love, etc. The wish is put on a 4x6 card and mailed with the fabric to each person.

The fabric is then made into a quilt and the wishes are assembled in a scrapbook so the family can reference what wish goes with what square on the quilt.

This particular swap that I joined only had 46 people in it, so I've already joined another group in hopes of getting more squishes. At some point, I also want to send a letter to friends and family to ask for participation in the new baby quilt. That way, it will be more personal.

Now that you have WAY more information than you EVER wanted to know...

I wanted to share pictures of the squishes I've gotten so far in my quest to have 100 Good Wishes. I'll start with the one I sent out to the first group.


The wish says: Thank you God, for this child. May you grant them their heart's deepest dreams and desires. May their days be filled with gladness, joy and peace thru any sadness. Fill them with love that will not depart.