Dear
Family and Friends: While we are waiting for the arrival of
our daughter, we are working on a project with which we need your assistance.
We are creating a "100 Good Wishes Quilt."
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 family and friends who contributed a piece of fabric.
The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation. We ask that you
please participate in this project. We love the idea of welcoming our daughter
into our home with a quilt that represents the good wishes for her from our
family and friends.
HERE IS WHAT WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO DO:
1. Choose any 100% cotton fabric that you like. It can be from a piece of
clothing or from a fabric store. It just needs to have a design and color
that you like. 2. Cut one (1) 7" square from the fabric. 3. On a sheet of
paper or notecard, put a small piece of the fabric and include your "good
wish note." Please include why you chose the fabric and your name and address.
The fabric will be used to make a quilt, and the notes will be placed in a
photo album which we will give to our daughter when she is older.
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 one good wish note and pieces of fabric.
In China, these quilts were originally made from the garments of family and
friends surrounding the child with luck and good wishes.
IDEAS FOR GOOD WISHES NOTE:
What would you wish for an infant to have in her life? Some ideas are good
health, perseverance, success, love, and a sense of humor. Use that as a guide
for your good wish note.
To see what we mean, please check out these websites with beautiful examples
of these quilts:
http://www.originalquilts.com/100_good_wishes_quilts.htm
Please take a few minutes from your busy schedules to help us create this
very special keepsake. The miracle of this adoption has been helped and nurtured
by so many of you and this will be so incredibly meaningful for us as well
as our new arrival!
If you would like to participate, please e-mail me at
[email protected]
and I will send you our address.
Thank you!
Jennifer and Scott Ernst