Ty's 100 Wishes Quilt!

Have you heard of a 100 Wishes Quilt? This is a Chinese tradition that has two possible origins.

The first is a reference in the book “Imperial Woman” by Pearl S. Buck. The passage says, "She must offer the child as an adopted son, by symbol, to other powerful families in her clan. Yet what friends had she? She thought and she pondered and she devised this plan. From the head of each of the highest one hundred families in the Empire, she required a bolt of the finest silk. From the silks she commanded the palace tailors to cut one hundred small pieces and from these make a robe for her child. Thus he belonged, by symbol, to one hundred strong and noble families, and under their shelter the gods would fear to harm him."

I love this passage because it is so representative of what we want for our Ty. How lovely that he will belong to 100 families that will shelter and care for him!

The second possible origin of this tradition references how parents in northern China make a Bai Jia Bei, or 100 Good Wishes Quilt, to welcome and celebrate a new life. Friends and family contribute a square of cloth and a wish for the baby. The pieces of cloth are made into a quilt, and the good wishes go into a memory book. The quilt is said to contain the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the families and friends who contributed.

So - we need your help. We want to make a 100 Good Wishes Quilt for Ty. Will you send a square and a wish for our little guy's quilt?

What to Send:
* One 8"x8" square of washable, boyish-colored or neutral-colored fabric. It can be new fabric or some "used and meaningful" fabric. 100% cotton fabric is desired.

* A 3"x5" or 4"x6" card with a good wish for Ty and a scrap of your fabric (glued to the paper). Your wish can be anything you want it to be. It can be something you wrote or a favorite poem, quote, or anything else that you would like. Please remember to sign your wish.

If you would like to send a square and a good wish for Ty, please email us at tysquilt@yahoo.com and we will send you our address. Thank you so much!

We plan to take photos and share the fabric and wishes we receive on Ty’s blog – so stay tuned! You can watch the progress as big sister Caitlin helps make the quilt and album to share all of your wishes with her brother!