I met my husband when we were both stationed in Germany. Whenever you go on post, you need to show your identification card at the front gate to get scanned in. The German gate guards would take our cards and immediately start chuckling when they saw my husband’s. If you didn’t know, Eichhorn is a German surname—but the German word “eichhörnchen” means squirrel. So they’d always get a chuckle when “Lieutenant Squirrel” was scurrying in to work!

Acorn sounds similar to Eichhorn. And squirrels collect acorns, right? There’s a connection there. But I also really liked the idea of the smallest ideas or smallest moments leading to big adventures. Adventuring is what my husband and I initially bonded over when we started dating. Going on adventures is what we did in any spare time we had—which was super easy to do living in Europe. In Europe, it doesn’t take much effort to hop on a train or plane and go to the next country, climb the next mountain, experience new cultures, etc.

Almost to the summit of Grossglockner in Austria

When we moved back to the US, we learned that it takes a bit more effort to go on an adventure. Our next duty station was San Antonio, TX and if you wanted to get anywhere, you had to drive 8 hours in any direction just to get out of the state (a bit of an exaggeration—but is it really?! lol). We also learned that adventures looked different depending on what phase of life we were in…and that’s okay! In Europe, we looked at adventures as solely being summiting the highest peaks and traveling to as many countries as we could. In Texas, we saw adventures as roadtripping as far as we could with our newest family members (two rescue cattle dogs) and hiking/ camping as much as we could. We also started the goal of visiting every single National Park during this time…

After Texas we moved to Tennessee and our adventures changed once again—to growing our family. Hiking while pregnant and than hiking with babies is a whole different game…but that didn’t slow us down. Our little littles have already been to some pretty cool places, from different national parks, states, hikes, etc. Anyone who has kids though knows that taking them anywhere takes longer, you’re bringing more stuff, and boy do you need patience. Sometimes, just going to our local neighborhood park is about all the adventure we can muster.

But that’s okay. Because we truly believe that the tiniest moments can lead to the biggest adventures. Whether it’s taking that first step on a challenging hike you’ve always wanted to take or it’s letting your little take his first steps at the playground, adventures are all around you.

Adventuring is a huge part of our family values and identity--and it’s going to constantly change depending on what stage of life we’re in. I want my quilts and quilt patterns to reflect that idea. And I hope y’all will join me on this adventure!

Why Tiny Acorn Design?

Quilt. Book. Cuddle. Repeat.