Finished / Next

Finished!

Next!

Puzzle, Day Four

I didn't do much before noon yesterday except work on the puzzle. It's been chilly here (last night was in the upper 30's, which seems very, very cold to us Florida lightweights). So it was nice to stay in, listen to NPR, drink coffee, and knock out a bunch of presents and that part of the edge, too.

Now, if I could just get a handle on those darn reindeer.

Puzzled Since Christmas

I started this puzzle on Christmas Day, reviving a family tradition. I bought it last season at an after-Christmas sale and discovered it in the Everything Closet just in time this year. It's by Rachel Arbuckle, a Celtic artist, and it was too beautiful to resist. I much prefer patterns to figurative art, so anything based on Celtic knotwork is right up my alley. (And now I see she has created a Green Man puzzle, too! Gotta have that one next.)

(this photo from barnesandnoble.com)

It is turning out to be quite challenging, although I'm calibrating my eye to notice subtle differences. For example, some of the numerous gift boxes have tiny patterns on the paper, so you can tell the plain blue boxes from the patterned blue boxes if you look really, really closely. And the dark parts of some interlaced pickets are pale gray, while others are dark gray. Any little bit helps!

Here's Day One.

Here's Day Three. I can't even get the border going on this one--usually one of the first steps--although I have collected all the border pieces in the lower right corner of the workspace.

Thank goodness for the little stars here and there. I've exploited them to the fullest. Now I have to forge ahead without their guiding light.

The Princess thinks this puzzle stuff is a very cool activity. She likes to walk on the pieces, but they stick to her feet and when she flicks them off, they turn over or fly off the table . . . or both. Not very helpful.

But she was cute today. She meowed at me repeatedly until I pulled up a chair for her, too. She knows that it's very soothing to have company while I'm scanning for that elusive mostly yellow piece with just a dab of red on the tab. And that I always have a free hand for kitty pats.