The Evolve quilt pattern was born from the struggles of 2020. I wanted to create a pattern that was a visual representation of how we evolve through trials and how it shapes us into something new and hopefully, something better!
Have you ever seen the 1998 film, The Truman Show? If not, I’m going to spoil it for you. This guy grows up to find out that his whole life was actually a reality show and that he had grown up in this little bubble that was being broadcast to the whole world. It was all an elaborate experiment and psychological observation. I’ve come to the conclusion that 2021 is the year that we find out that 2020 was all just one big experiment to see how we would hold up under extreme duress. SHOW ME THE CAMERAS! Where are they hiding?? I’m done! Let me out.
Despite having that weird feeling that says “Wait… what just happened?”, I always like to take the time at the beginning of each year to reflect on the past and plan for the future. I like to see where and how I grew and in what areas I want to be better. Designing the Evolve quilt pattern helped me do just that. Where did I start? How has this year shaped me? What did I struggle with? In what ways did I succeed? And how am I better because of it?
Evolve Block One:
The year 2020 started with me hovering over a toilet. I was pregnant with our fourth child and feeling pretty awful. However, I had high hopes! We pictured the beautiful birth of our third baby girl. I planned to have a photographer at the hospital to capture the sacred moments of meeting our baby for the first time. I imagined how my other three kids would react when they came to the hospital to meet their new sister. We expected to attend school events and grade level graduations. I couldn’t wait to see the excitement of my son entering kindergarten! I pictured my daughter running around the neighborhood with her friends all summer. We planned on family gatherings, holidays and birthday parties. I planned for growth, happiness, and love. Which we DID ultimately get. Just not in the ways I thought we would.
Evolve Block Two:
Where were you when the country started shutting down? I remember it was a bight sunny spring day. I had a hard time getting everything I needed at the grocery store because people were freaking out. When I got home, I was in my kitchen putting groceries away when I got the phone call from the kids’ schools that they would be closing. Shock. I couldn’t believe things were really this bad. This all just seemed so ridiculous and I thought people needed to calm down!
We had been planning a trip to Utah for spring break to visit family in a few weeks. So, when schools shut down and jobs became remote, we decided to move up our tip and we left the next day. Traveling at the beginning of all of this was insane! People were almost frantic and hyper vigilant in 6 foot distancing and sanitizing everything. I have never, in my lifetime, seen such hysteria throughout the country and the world! This really was quite something to witness.
Evolve Block Three:
I’m sure, like us, many of you had plans that the pandemic ruined. Since we up and left when everything started shutting down, we were lucky to be surrounded by family during such confusing and scary times. We ended up being there for almost a month. During this time, I was suddenly thrown into managing my children’s remote education. What a ride that has been (and probably the thing that has effected me the most this year). You guys… there is a reason I did not go to college to become a teacher! It is NOT for me! So, between pulling my hair out over remote learning and being hugely pregnant, I was in rough shape!
Eventually we began to worry that we wouldn’t be able to get a flight home. Airlines were canceling flights left and right and grounding planes in droves! I didn’t want to get stuck so far away from home while I was getting so close to my due date. Finally, we decided that it was time to go home. We were able to secure a flight home and boy was that eerie. All the airports and airplanes were so empty! It was like walking thru a ghost town! But we finally made it back home safe and sound and COVID-free.
Evolve Block Four
The rest of the year was fairly uneventful as we, much like most of you, sat at home and went nowhere, did nothing, and saw no one. Somehow, we managed to navigate through the longest summer of our lives, more remote learning, and the strangest holiday season we have ever seen. Have you ever seen the movie “Collateral Beauty?” If there is one thing I want to take away from 2020, it is the collateral beauty.
- I gave birth during a pandemic to a beautiful healthy baby girl. No one was allowed to be with us, but that made it intimate and personal. It was a moment in time that I would never trade for anything!
- We were unable to attend funerals when we lost both of my grandfathers this year (not COVID related). However, through technology, we were able to connect virtually with family and friends who supported us and uplifted us through that time.
- Most summers we pack in as much adventure as possible. This summer (which was quite possibly the longest summer of our lives) we stayed home. Even though we didn’t do much, I felt the peace and tranquility of less stress and more focus on family. It was kind of nice having nothing to do while navigating the waters of newborn life once again.
- There have been some sickening atrocities throughout our country regarding race and politics. However, because of these atrocities, I have also seen great kindness, compassion, support for all causes, and an outpouring of love for those in need.
I refuse to look at this year as a waste. Instead, I choose to see the collateral beauty. There is always beauty among the ashes if we will only look.
Evolve Block Five
As we come to a close on the year 2020, I would like to think that I am better now than I was at the beginning. I have learned so much about myself. It has been a year of self inspection for us as individuals and also for our country. There has been so much fear, hate, wrong-doings, crimes, blame, divisions and negativity this year. How did you handle it? Have you walked through this fire with grace, or did you falter some? I certainly did. But the more important question is: Have you learned something?
I have evolved in so many ways this year. I…
- Became a mother of four.
- Learned to let some things go that I can’t control or don’t need to control.
- Learning how to advocate for my children when they need me to.
- Grew my business and started something new.
- Deepened connections with friends and gained new friends
- Offered advice and I asked for help.
The Whole Evolve Quilt Pattern
Amidst our trials, we emerge from the struggle as something new, something polished. We become refined and prepared for our futures. We are only human and we struggle. That’s okay! But, we are also intelligent. We learn and grow and move forward. I have grown and changed and I want to celebrate that triumph instead of grieving all the things I missed or had to change. I hope you will celebrate with me and enjoy making your own Evolve Quilt!
