This is probably my favorite block in the quilt. It certainly is the most personal block! I designed it myself and know that Mom and Zach would recognize it instantly! Mom came to the Netherlands to visit when Zach was not quite a year old. She wanted to give him his first birthday present while we were there and she knew she wanted it to be a stuffed tiger like the one in Calvin and Hobbes Since we thought Zach would be a lot like Calvin...boy we were right about that! We searched in every town we visited for a toy tiger. We had covered almost all of the Netherlands and had all but given up. We had seen toy tigers, but none of them had that Je ne sais quoi that we were looking for. Finally on the last day of her trip we stopped in the toy store in Barneveld, the one closest to our house and there he was...the tiger we had searched the width and breadth of the Netherlands to find, in our own back yard! We snapped him up and took him home. Mom pulled out the tiger and held him up in front of Zach and we watched in utter delight as the smile spread across Zach's face and ended in an all out giggling fit of laughter. It truly was love at first sight! Zach latched on to that tiger and has not let go yet. Of course Jaime is living with us in SC and not in Zach's room at the Frat house, but we all know Zach will never let go of Jaime!
How did he come to be called Jaime you might ask and I have the convoluted answer to that question. My sister's nickname as a baby was tiger, her given name is Jamie, but in New Mexico there is a male hispanic name that is spelled very closely...Jaime ( prounounced hi-me) so naturally Jamie was often mistakenly and sometimes purposefully called Jaime and so it sort of stuck...so when Zach had a tiger we naturally gave it Jamies other nickname as its own name, clear as mud right?
So cute this story. My boys STILL have their stuffed animals. While putting away some of Harrison's clothes recently, I saw his dragon. He has had that for 16 years! Cameron still has his bear which he named 'babybillbeback'. I have NO idea where he got that name. I have Reid's nearly hairless and barely able to tell it was blue 'dinosaur'. I cannot tell you have many 'surgeries' these critters had over the years from adding stuffing, buttons for eyeballs and fixing tears from too much loving and trips in the washer! Precious memories those are for sure!!
ReplyDeleteOh how I remember the search for Jaime. I truly knew that was the tiger I wanted , it had to be that one and sure enough Zach knew him when he saw him. It was meant to be! I was always so thrilled that the toy I gave him was so special to him. I shouldn't even call Jaime a toy he is so much more, like a best friend! I'm glad he is safe with you.Wonderful likeness I might add. Good job!.
ReplyDeleteJaime is pictured with a black nose in the quilt because that is what he started out with. But all the "leather" has been worn clean off and his nose is a white plastic oval now. I chose to use a "Young Elvis" version for the quilt. When I think of all the times we went hunting for Jaime...We road our bikes a lot in the NL and Zach would be strapped on my bike and holding onto Jaime and we would be whizzing along and then I would hear it, a shriek that would scare you half to death. I would slam on the breaks and turn the bike around and there would be Jaime laying on the ground several yards back. We finally started strapping Jaime in right along with Zach. We have gone back to get him from more than one store too, the most worrisome was the Golden Coral in Clovis, because we were two hours away in Amarillo before we discovered Jaime was missing! But through all that we still have him! When the time is right, I want to display him in a shadow box, but I am not ready to put him under glass yet, and even if Zach would never admit it, I dont think he is either.
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