
Stitched Together
Stories of a Kentucky Life
Bob Thompson(Author)
The University Press of Kentucky
Published on 15. October 2019
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-0-8131-7806-6 (ISBN)
Description
When Bob Thompson asked his granny years ago why she continued to create so many of her beautiful quilts, she said it was the only way she could reach across time, touching and giving her descendants her energy. And just like his granny, Thompson's gift of storytelling provides a reverence and buoyancy all its own. This collection combines personal and family experiences to create a patchwork quilt of gripping stories with the comfort of memory.
Thompson draws on his mother's seventy years of diaries, handwritten notes, and recipe cards to reveal that every story, no matter how small, has some wisdom to impart. He describes how, as a child, he would pass his days on the front porch of his granny's country store in western Kentucky and listen to regulars swap stories and spin yarns, which cemented his passion for storytelling. His granny's methods of quilting provide an interesting perspective on life: "She never hurried; her stitches were small and even. Fascinated with numbers, I counted as many as eight hundred per square and did the math, sixteen thousand for a twin-bed-sized quilt! When I mentioned that some of Great-Grandmother Brim's quilts had stitches so large that you could get your big toe caught in them, Granny smiled and said, 'It's not the size of the stitches that count, it's the spaces between them.'"
Thompson's poignant narratives of community, friends, and family impart the significance of the quiet moments and meaningful spaces between everyday events. In doing so, they demonstrate that there is something to be gained from every human experience.
Thompson draws on his mother's seventy years of diaries, handwritten notes, and recipe cards to reveal that every story, no matter how small, has some wisdom to impart. He describes how, as a child, he would pass his days on the front porch of his granny's country store in western Kentucky and listen to regulars swap stories and spin yarns, which cemented his passion for storytelling. His granny's methods of quilting provide an interesting perspective on life: "She never hurried; her stitches were small and even. Fascinated with numbers, I counted as many as eight hundred per square and did the math, sixteen thousand for a twin-bed-sized quilt! When I mentioned that some of Great-Grandmother Brim's quilts had stitches so large that you could get your big toe caught in them, Granny smiled and said, 'It's not the size of the stitches that count, it's the spaces between them.'"
Thompson's poignant narratives of community, friends, and family impart the significance of the quiet moments and meaningful spaces between everyday events. In doing so, they demonstrate that there is something to be gained from every human experience.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Lexington
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
29 b&w photos
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
390 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8131-7806-6 (9780813178066)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Bob Thompson is a writer, storyteller, engineer, handyman, tree hugger, and explorer of other dimensions. He is chairman and program director for E.A.R.S., which produces the Corn Island Storytelling Festival and the Kentucky Homefront Radio show.