100 Good Wishes

This is not a post about sewing.  Everyone knows I can't sew...OK, I can sew a button on in a pinch, but that's about it.  It's something I've always wanted to learn how to do but never got around to learning. 

I am collecting quilt squares for my boys for a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt. It is a Chinese custom for friends and family to welcome a new baby with patches of cloth and a wish for the child.  Part of the cloth goes in to the quilt and swatch of fabric stays in a notebook/memory book for the child.  The swatches of fabric are said to contain the luck, energy and good wishes of the contributor. 

I feel pretty strongly about preserving any small pieces of Chinese heritage and culture for my boys.  Maybe it's because I feel some sadness that I missed so much of their early years.  Maybe I feel some guilt that I caused them to be taken from their home country, despite the better opportunities that they will undoubtedly enjoy as part of our family. 

I really try to absorb and inject small pieces of Chinese culture in to our lives, but I'm sure I fall short.  Learning to cook a couple of passable Chinese dishes, handing out red envelopes for Chinese New Year and using a few simplified (and what I'm sure are badly pronounced) Chinese words here and there just don't seem enough.  But a quilt I can do...and if I can't do it, I can sure cause it to be done.  I know people who sew! 

So far, I have 30 quilt squares for each of my boys and I have the promise that about half a dozen more are in the mail/will come soon.  I've loved looking at all of the different prints and reading all of the wishes.  Most - though not all - are from a quilt swap I did with other "China moms". 

Any way you look at it, I'm nowhere near 100.  I could make a quilt (again...stressing not me make it exactly but you know what I mean) with 50 or so squares. But I don't want that.  I want to preserve the tradition.  I want the benefit/mojo/luck...whatever...of all 100 wishes. 

Some have asked about things Kyle might need or welcome home gifts.  We don't need a thing.  We've got enough toys for two kids to fight over and I'm a thrift shop/clearance rack girl for clothes and such - we're good.  What I would really love is to get to 100 with my quilt squares.  Who wants a 36 good wishes quilt?  Just not the same!

Here are the details:
Cotton fabric, preferably fabric that has been washed.  It doesn't have to be new and it doesn't have to be any particular pattern.  Something that represents the person who gives it would be nice, but really, any cotton fabric is fine.

Most of my squares are 8X8 - 10X10.  I will probably end up cutting them down a little bit. 

The "wish" can be written/typed on any sort of paper, but a 3X5 index card size is nice.  Each "wish" has a swatch of the fabric attached to it so that we can someday pick out the wish that corresponds to the square on the quilt and see who it is from.  I've got all of our wishes in a photo album.  There are some that are really fancy with craft paper, caligraphy and clever paper craft techniques and some that are really simple.  Some of the "wishes" are scriptures, some are Chinese proverbs, some are just things that were written from the heart.  You can use a line from a poem or a lyric from a song...whatever inspires you and represents you. 

I hope my boys never feel sorry for themselves because of their beginnings.  I hope we can raise them to be strong and confident young men who are proud of who they are and where they came from.  That said, the fact that their birth families chose not to raise them might cause them some pain one day.  I'm not sure if the wishes in tangible form that 100 people made when they were small and just joining their new family would mitigate any angst they might someday feel.  But...it comforts me to know that I did my best to make sure they had some reminders to show how much they were loved, welcomed and wanted by our family. 

If you are reading this, I would love for you to be a part of this quilt.  I would love for you to share this with anyone you think might be interested in being a part of this project.  If you would like to swap squares with me, you can leave a comment here or email me at jillhudkins@hotmail.com.  I'll accept a square from anyone who has a good wish, but you will have to let me know if you would like to collect a wish in return. 

My mailing address is: PSC 41 Box 2764, APO AE 09464.  It's a military post office box overseas - no foreign postage, but the envelope may need a customs form.  It's New York postage rate. 

I am collecting squares for BOTH Zack and Kyle. I didn't swap squares while we were in the process of Zack's adoption - the whole sewing thing scared me off.  But...I learned a little more about the tradition behind the quilt and I think it's a lovely sentiment.  I would like to be able to sew these myself but in reality, I probably won't.  I do want them to look nice and be the heirloom piece that they're intended to be and I don't think my "entry level" sewing would cut it.  I've had a few very kind ladies offer to help me, and I will most certainly be taking someone up on that. 

Cheers, people!