The puzzle that nearly beat me

Over this last year of lock-downs I have done so many jigsaw puzzles. More than I have ever done before. I have become quite addicted to them, especially during bad weather, when we can’t get outside much.

With so much practice I have become very good at them. The only ones I gave up on were two I blogged about before. They were very soft focus and I couldn’t get going on them. I learned never to choose a puzzle with a blurred picture again.

My mum and me post each other puzzles. Sometimes Mum sends me some that are too hard for her or that she couldn’t finish because she struggles with her eye sight. I have managed to finish even the really difficult ones. I have become expert at recognising very fine detail. Dots on brickwork and leaves and twigs on trees, blades of grass and hints of clouds in skies.

Recently I discovered a local, monthly, jigsaw and paperback library. It is on the first Wednesday of the month and reopened this month. It is run by volunteers. They take donations of puzzles and books and charge just fifty pence per item which is an amazing bargain.

I donated five jigsaws and four books and bought two jigsaws and two books. I found it really difficult to choose the jigsaws. I have got so used to being given them and although I thought I would know what sort to choose I was a bit overwhelmed by having such a huge choice.

I like a 1000 piece puzzle as anything smaller I do too quickly. I chose one that was 1500 pieces as I thought that would give me a challenge. I can finish a 1000 piece in three days. This one took me a week. That was with me spending quite a lot of time on it as it has rained almost every day.

Once I had completed the outside I separated my pieces into the main picture and the background. I put the tray of background pieces aside and just worked on the picture which had a basket of fruit as the centre piece.

I got on well with the main part of the picture and found it challenging but enjoyable. Then I had just the background left to do. Another lesson learned is not to pick a puzzle with too much plain background. There was no detail at all in the background and it was also slightly fuzzy.

I have completed smaller plain backgrounds by the shape of the pieces but this was a daunting, huge, chunk of background. I was in a dilemma. Could I face the tedium of completing it or could I face giving up after completing so much of it. I decided to keep trying over the next few days and see how I got on.

Once I got started on the background I knew that I couldn’t let it beat me. I like to have a picture to follow and recognise detail but the picture was no help at all. I had to put away the picture and carry on purely by the shape of the pieces.

I arrange all the pieces on trays in rows of the pieces the same shape. With a small part like this I try every piece in each space but there were far too many pieces to do this. I had to study the shapes and match them. It was slow progress but I knew it would get easier when there were less pieces to try.

For the first time in ages my husband was able to join in. Because of his sight problem he hasn’t been able to do puzzles with me recently but he was able to join in with this because it wasn’t about seeing any detail but purely recognising shape and a lot of trial and error.

I am so glad that I didn’t let it beat me but I will try to choose more carefully in future. The actual picture really appealed to me so I overlooked the big background space. It would have been more fun with something else in the background but it was a challenge.

I am happy that I completed it.