Instructions

Friends and Family,

While we are waiting for the referral of our baby girl from China, we are working on a project that we REALLY need your help with. We are creating something called 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 (or more) 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.

We are asking you to please participate in this project. We love the idea of welcoming the baby into our home with a quilt that represents the good wishes you are all sending her way.

Here is what we would like you to do:
1. 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.

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

3. Include your "good wish note". We will place all of your "Squishes" (squares and wishes) into a scrapbook that we will give to our little girl 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 In China, these quilts were originally made from garments of family and friends, which would surround the child with luck/good wishes.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, a sense of humor, and lots of money (just kidding). Use that as a guide for your good wish note. Also, please include a small piece of the same fabric on the wish.

Please take a few minutes from your busy schedules to help us create this very special keepsake for our baby. Thank you!

Why are Ladybugs significant?
Ladybugs are a sign of good luck in the Chinese adoption community. It is said that if you see ladybugs that good things will happen soon! Because of this, many people like to include fabrics with ladybugs in their 100 Good Wishes Quilts. We have already begun to decorate Chloe's room with ladybugs in anticipation of her arrival!

Thanks,
Joe, Courtney and Blaine

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet,
regardless of time, place, or circumstance.
The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break."
--An ancient Chinese belief