It's hip to be square.

Would you like to help with our daughter's 100 Good Wishes Quilt?


100 Good Wishes Quilt
made by Original Quilts

Sample wishes
What is the 100 Good Wished Quilt all about?
To welcome and celebrate a new life, a tradition exists, in the northern part of China, to make a Bai Jia Bei (a.k.a. 100 Good Wishes Quilt). The family invites friends and family to contribute a square of cloth along with their wish for the baby. Part of the square goes into the quilt and the other part, goes into a scrapbook with the wish for the child. The quilt is said to contain the luck, energy, and good wishes from everyone who contributed a piece of fabric.

But Lisa failed HomeEc and can't sew on a button to save her life!
Well, I am going to take some quilting classes and see if maybe I can learn a thing or two. (If there are any family or friends out there that love to sew, and want to take on a project, I wouldn't turn down an offer!) But, if necessary, there are some wonderfully talented quilters who specialize in assembling these quilts, whom I could hire.

Would you like to be hip too? Here's what you do:
Choose a machine washable, 100% cotton fabric that you like. The fabric can be new or "used and meaningful." Before you cut your fabric, please pre-wash it so that it has done all the shrinking that it is going to do, and then, cut one 7"x7" square. (The finished size of the squares in the quilt will be 5”x5”, so if you are adding anything to your square, please keep this in mind.)

Please then add a note with your good wish for our daughter. Your wish can be simple or elaborate: of your own words and thoughts, a favorite poem or quote, or whatever. One of the fabric squares will help make up the quilt, and the other square will be matched with your wish and go into a memory book for little Baby Shanahan. When she is older, she will be able to match up the wish and the fabric, to her quilt. The quilt will be a way to give her some sort of history, as she will someday know that while she was in a Chinese orphanage; so many people thought of her and loved her. Please remember to sign your wish and include your city, state and country. Pictures of yourselves would be good too, if you would like to include them!

Where do we send the squares?
Since I don't want to post our address to the internet, please send us an email to let us know you want to contribute. Also, if you too are building a quilt for your child and would like to trade, let me know that too! I have plenty of fabric and good wishes to go around and would love to help.

Thank you for helping us make this quilt for our daughter. We appreciate your kindness and please know that the quilt will hold a special place in our hearts. Through this quilt, our daughter will know just how much she was loved before she ever set foot in our home.

So, what got me started on this quilting adventure? Some of my favorite bloggers are making quilts: Do They Have Salsa in China?, Gwenblog and The Teague Family Adoption, so check out their sites too!