To celebrate my marriage in 2001, we had a special blessing party with extended family and friends in Illinois. We were surrounded by community and traditions of ancestors, a kransekake, my dress, also worn by my great, great Aunt Bertha, my bracelet also worn by my Grandma Violet, and my infant niece, who brought the next generation into our circle.  During this celebration, my Grandma Hazel gave us a log cabin quilt, complete with all the love and family connection that the stitches held for her. I remember it sometimes covered the bed I would sleep in while visiting her home in the small town of Kirkland, Illinois. I usually slept in her sewing room beside her mother’s old treadle sewing machine. I remember stories of grandma’s grandma starting this quilt and Hazel finishing it. The hands that made the quilt were my grandmother Hazel Leona Brandt Johnson’s, her mother, Johanna “Hannah” Sophia Anderson Brandt’s, and her grandmother, Anna Elizabeth Peterson Anderson. Anna came from Linkoping, Östergötland, Sweden, 24 July 1852, to Illinois at the age of 18. 
In February 2003, I was childless and pregnant for the third time. I was unable to attend my Grandma Hazel’s funeral, just 16 months after our wedding. Now our quilt hangs in her her great-grandchild, Meera Hazel Pearson Safford's (b. on March 9, 2003,) bedroom.  My hope is that Meera will carry this quilt with her into her own unfolding life. I wish for her to always and forever feel embraced by our love for her.

  

– Krista Pearson

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more