Here is what a Bai Jia Bei is:
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 Wishes Quilt." It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square of patch of cloth. The 100 patches are sewn together into a quilt that contains good wishes and prayers from all the families and friends who contributed a piece of fabric.
The China adoption community has jumped on this tradition and has added a special component. When you contribute a 6x6 100% cotton square, you write the wish on index card, attach a scrap of the fabric (so the child will know when he/she is older which piece is fabric is from you) and give the family both the fabric square and the wish card. All the wishes are put together in a 100 wishes scrap book.
Here is a website dedicated to a quilt: http://www.3ds100wishesquilt.blogspot.com/
I am not sure how popular these are in China, but they are popular in the adoption community, and really should be a new trend for all babies, because I think it is just the sweetest thing.
I started off slow with wishes from a quilt swap with an online group of families all adopting from China in 2012/2013. Then I asked a few friends who happened to be over at our house to do a square for Ben, and emailed a few other close friends and Tom's and my family. Then, when we were in China, my mom went on a quilt square campaign to her family and friends, and when we returned home from China, our mail was full of not only Christmas cards, but quilt squares too! It was so awesome to open each one and read warm wishes to Ben. Tonight (up past 10 p.m. I can't believe it!!) I started getting organized and have mounted most of the squares to paper. I felt like I had 100, but it looks like we only have just over 50. Luckily there is no deadline on the project!!
If you are interested in giving Ben a wish and quilt square, we would (humbly) love it!
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