100 Good Wishes Quilt

David and I are putting together a Bai Jia Bei quilt for Amelie with the help of our wonderful friend Sherry. I hope you call all help!

The tradition behind the One Hundred Good Wishes Quilt, or Bai Jia Bei .

This tradition began in Northern China. When a new child was born, family and friends would give the parents pieces of fabric, generally from clothing they'd worn, to the new parents to create a quilt from the 100 pieces of fabric (wishes). The quilt was meant to wrap and warm the child in good wishes and the energy of the people who were around the child. Parents adopting from China have taken on this tradition by creating One Hundred Good Wishes quilts for their children. It is a custom to invite 100 people 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.
With each fabric piece that is given to the new parents, a wish for the child is also sent, with a 1x1 inch piece of the same fabric attached to the “wish” so that the child will always know whose wish was made just for them.

Now what about this wish?
You have a lot of freedom with how you create your wish. People find their inspiration in many different ways; you can use song lyrics, a quote, bible verse or even a word with its definition to create your wish from. You can make your wish as simple as you want (e.g. "I wish you joy in your life" or humorous “I wish you to pass your driver’s license on the first try”) to a poem written especially for this occasion. How creative you want to get with the presentation is also your call. If you are into scrapbooking, you will love this part of the project. If you want to pretend you are into scrapbooking, this will also be a good time. If you are into stamping, this is also a chance to use that creative channel.
The most important part is this: have fun. You are working towards making a gift for this child. In the end what this child will treasure is the effort and work that went into making this creation, in whatever form it ends up, and the love that was behind it all of the way. A HUGE Thank You goes out to Sherry who so sweetly agreed to take on this project!
What type of fabric do I need?

Please send one 9 x 9 square along with a smaller 1 X 1 square. The smaller square should be attached to your “good wishes” message/card and is the quilter’s way of identifying your fabric within the quilt.
Type of Fabric: I would recommend QUALITY (not Wal-Mart and not the cheaper stuff at Joann Fabrics) 100% cotton fabric as most decorator fabrics have some synthetic blends and tend to be heavier. It's always good to have 'like fabrics' in a quilt. Quilt shop fabric tends to have a better thread count (think of how thread count in sheets generally designates the quality of the sheets) and will wear better than fabrics that have a lower thread count. Please pre-wash if you can, as they will shrink. Some ideas are red fabrics, ladybugs (good luck symbols in China), panda bears and pink.