Many people have asked if I have completed our Bia Jia Bei (100 wishes quilt) for Liliana.  Welllllllllllllll…..the short answer is…no…  Now, I could give you every excuse in the world, (work, referral excitement, illness, husband’s illness, uncertainty), but the excuses only hide the fact that I have been procratinating.  Mainly because I really do not know if I CAN complete the quilt by myself.  [Note: for those of you who are thinking that I have given up on Liliana’s quilt all together, fear not.  I am just about to start on it right now!]  Of course, ideally I think I can.  In my warped little mind, I have created this illusion that I can totally create the perfect quilt!  Unfortunately, this illusion and the reality of sewing a huge quilt can be very different things!  And with this reality, I get terrified that I will not be able to even come close to sewing this quilt properly.  However, the idea of creating this quilt for our little one is really exciting to me.  So, to help get me over this fear, I decided to create a practice quilt of the design that I want to use for Liliana’s quilt.  The pattern is called an Asian Lantern design.  I really like it because if it is completed correctly, it will nicely display the different quilt pieces sent to us by family and friends, as well as honor our daughter’s heritage. 

So, a couple weeks ago I started the practice quilt, and a couple days ago I finished it.  After all is said and done, I am really happy with the results.  I used some blue ladybug fabric for the border on the front side, and a Chinese glyph design for the fabric and the back.  For the quilting aspect of the quilt (the decorative stitching that keeps the quilt together), I decided to use a free-hand design with swirls and curves throughout stiched in red thread.  These swirls and curves have hearts sewn here and there just to show that it was made with love!  I have included pictures in this post of the new quilt.  Click on the picture to see a full-sized image.  The images of the hearts show how one particular heart looks on the front and the back of the quilt.

The Chinese glyph at the right shows the word Love with a red-thread heart underneath.  This symbol and heart are my favorite parts of this quilt.

As with the first quilt I created back in June, I am not going to keep this one.  I have a very dear friend who lives close by who is also adopting her first little girl from China.  We have been huge supports for each other throughout this really long wait, and are both looking forward to travelling soon.  I know that she will love this gift of love for her daughter.  I just cannot wait for the quilt to arrive on her doorstep.  In the meantime, if you still have not send us a square, but really want to have one included in Liliana’s quilt, we would love to receive one from you.  Just follow the instructions on this page.

Now…I need to get started on Liliana’s quilt!

After receiving over 100 fabric squares from numerous friends and family, the thought that I was going to create a quilt for Liliana started to make me nervous.  Although I have done some sewing throughout my life (my ski racing pants, graduation sashes, ski jacket, wedding dress), I have never made a quilt.  What was I getting myself into?  So, to help with this dilemma, I decided to create a smaller “practice” quilt.  If this one worked, then great, I would do fine with the Bai Jia Bei.  If it didn’t work, then I knew that I would that I would have to send it out to a professional to be made.  Well, June 12 was my niece’s 5th birthday.  Her birthday gave me the perfect reason to create a quilt.  I found a great pattern, some adorable fabric, and started sewing.  I presented the quilt to her when we travelled to Florida in June.  Below is a picture of my niece with the quilt.  So, after completing this quilt, I have decided to tackle the daunting task of the Bai Jia Bei.  Keep your fingers crossed that all will turn out OK.

 Bailey  :0)

  Cute Sara with the front of the quilt.

  Sara and the back of the quilt.