Monday, January 3, 2011

100 Wishes for Jaida

Now that Jason is gone for two months it gives me even more time to think about going to China and bringing home our daughter.  I read different blogs every night from other families who have adopted from China.  I find it so helpful to hear their stories and it doesn't make it such a mystery going into it for the first time.  A special thing that I have read from several blogs is the 100 Wishes Quilt.  I think it would be very special for Jaida to have a quilt made especially for her.  I come from a family with lots of talent.  My Grandmother among her talents has always been great at sewing/quilting; my Mother's talents include sewing (curtains, dresses,hemming), baking, and quilting; Jeannine (my sister) has so many talents she must have gotten my share too -sports, any craft, baking (including sticky buns and egg nog raisin bread) and growing up my two cousins Wendy and Karen had the musical talent.  I am still searching for my talent-I have no musical talent (realized at a very young age), hate sports, tried pottery, cross stitch, scrap-booking-closet full of half finished projects and still haven't found my talent.  I tried sewing but a two hour Winnie the Pooh costume took me two weeks and didn't last the night.  Maybe everyone doesn't have a talent but I want to complete this quilt for Jaida.  Hopefully my friends and family can help me with this project and send a wish and piece of cloth (and someone teach me quickly how to quilt-lol) 

I copied this from the internet to give people an idea of what we want to do.

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 prayers, luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. Select a fabric that is meaningful to you, it doesn’t have to be new- a project you started but didn’t finish, a piece of skirt, something you thought was pretty at Walmart or if you are a parent it can be from a child’s clothing. (In China, these quilts were originally made from garments of family and friends, which would surround the child with luck/good wishes.)The purpose of the 100 Good wishes quilt is to create a quilt with each of the quilting squares associated with a specific person/wish. This type of quilt is common in China and has become popular in the Chinese adoption community. The person sending the piece of fabric also sends a wish on a piece of paper for a scrapbook for the person who will eventually receive the quilt. The wish can be for good health, something religious or some other positive life outcome. The square should be a 6x6 inch piece of fabric (or there about) then we can cut it to the correct size . It is ideal if you place a piece of the fabric on the paper containing the wish so that we can associate the wish with the fabric and the person who sent the fabric.The Wish: Your wish and the way it is presented can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be. The wish might be a prayer, favorite poem, a heart felt random thought, a Bible verse or a quote. You can write it on an index card, white paper, stationary, lined paper, acid free paper- whatever you like. You can hand write or use a computer, make it scrap-booky or stamped - whatever you like- this is your wish/prayer for our daughter, we want it to reflect your personality.Some of the wishes I have read include- I wish you more good hair days than bad hair days, I wish for you to find the love of God, I wish for you happiness …… Let your personality shine!

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