March 28th was my late grandma Ellen’s birthday. The blog name “Sum of their Stories” is a line from a poem about mothers and daughters. I started the blog to share my enthusiasm for all things craft related and also to pass on the crafts and skills my mum and my grandmas shared with me as I was growing up.

So as a little way to thank and honour them, each year on what would have been their birthday I share something they made, inspired etc something with a connection to them. This year I’m sharing a book that my Grandma gave me when I was about 8 and showed an interest in patchwork. Ellen had done a bit of patchwork herself, I think she went to a few classes to make things. Back in 2018 I shared some pics of a bedspread she had made.

The book is from 1973, and it’s very of it’s time. I love the 1970’s vibe. Let me show you just some of the gems inside.

It’s got some lovely, very stylish fashion illustrations.

And some patchwork pattern illustrations.

I referred to this book a lot growing up. I made some rather lovely patchwork cushion covers for my bedroom when I was a teen using very 80’s print fabrics using some of these designs and I thought they were fabulous!

So today I’m remembering my nan, Ellen, she was always very encouraging with everything, not just crafts. You can see more of the tributes from past years here, you can also read the poem that the blog name is based on there.

Julie