I’m about to undertake the first quilt for a member of the family that I never knew: my great-grandmother Grace Turner Jordan (pictured above). Even though I never knew her I’ve always felt a connection with her for several reasons.

First I grew up in her house. The house where she raised 9 children.   And I grew up in that house with her husband, William, my great-grandfather. He died when I was 14 and was a formative part of my childhood. He was the patriarch around which our family was anchored. When I was young I remember he would always have invisible white mice for me each time I would see him – he would always tuck the invisible white mouse away into a pocket in his sweater and then the next time I would see him he would retrieve it from the same pocket (I should mention at this time that I was a sickly child and was fairly well medicated so invisible white mice were not unusual for me). You’ve probably heard of ‘living time capsules’. “Old Gramp”, as we called him was such a person, he was turned away when he tried to enlist for WWI because he was too old, the story goes that they told him they were going to need him in case the Huns attacked Maine. Since he already had 7 (or 8?) children at that point it was probably a good call. His father was a Civil War Veteran. Growing up with him in the house was quite an adventure. My sisters and I used to sneak downstairs on his poker nights and listen to his stories through the smoke. Through him I felt that I knew a bit of her.

Old Gramp and Me 

I also feel a connection to her in a shared malady, migraines. A number of women in the family share this affliction. I at least have modern pharmaceuticals to help combat them, Grace was all alone, and raising 9 children to boot. I’m not sure how she did it. In fact I didn’t do a lick of work on the project this week because I’ve been suffering from a migraine. I’ve had them since I was 12 years old and each one lasts 3 days. The medication makes life bearable but turns me into a slug. I think if I had to deal with 9 children while suffering from a migraine I would likely strangle them all. Especially since I have heard the stories of how unruly a bunch my grandmother and her brothers and sisters were. I think my great-grandmother must have been a saint.