Bai Jia Bei

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 friends and family to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby. Part of the patch of cloth goes into the quilt for the baby, and the other part of the cloth can go into a creative memory scrapbook with the wish for the child. The quilt 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.
Being that it looks like this is going to be a long wait here, I would love to participate in this Chinese tradition and create a quilt for our daughter. Mind you, I can barely sew a button on, but I will fiqure that part out later. If you would like to help in the creation of this quilt, please read on...

Choose ANY 100% cotton fabric that you like. It can be from clothing or from a fabric store. It just needs to be a design and color that you like.

Cut ONE 7" (pre-washed) or one 8" (un-washed) square from the fabric.

Include your "good wish note". We will place all your wishes in a scrapbook that we will give to the baby someday.

Ideas for selecting fabric squares:
*Select a fabric that is meaningful to you.
*100% cotton fabric is best, as it washes and wears better.
*If there are several members in your family, please feel free to send more than 1 set of scraps. It would be so special to include good wishes from all members of your family!! In China, these quilts were originally made from garments of family and friends, which would surround the child with luck/good wishes.

Ideas for good wishes note:
Well... what would you wish for a newborn child to have in his/her life? Some ideas that come to mind are good health, perseverance, compassion, and sense of humor. Use that as a guide for your good wish note. Also, please include a small piece of fabric on the wish.

There are also many sites out on the web that feature completed 100 wishes quilts, in case you need some more fabric ideas. Just do a google search for "100 wishes quilts." By the way, ladybugs are considered good luck for the chinese!

Love,
Christy