Sunny Morning - Anatolian Puzzle 1000

It's been a while since I last assembled a puzzle and I had forgotten how addictive it can be for me. For the same reason I love cross stitching, the gradual emergence of the picture from the thousands of pieces / stitches is so captivating.

This latest puzzle was bought more than a month ago but I waited for the right free time - like the long Easter weekend, for I knew - once I started it there will be little else done at home until I finish it.

The brand Anatolian is new to me, the quality is good, though I still find Schmidt first and  Ravensburger second. Anatolian would be somewhere third in my personal rating together with Educa and a few other brands.

Puzzle: Sunny Morning, 1000 pcs.
Brand: Anatolian
Time to assemble: 2 days

The Jewelry Box Puzzle

One of my most favourite puzzles - very easy and very interesting to assemble, I'm becoming a fan of period painting puzzles.

Puzzle: The Jewelry Box by Ettore Simonetti
Maker: Castorland 1000 pcs.
Time to assemble: 2 days

Details:

Amsterdam Puzzle Castorland 1000

The first of my new puzzle acquisitions. Very, very pleasant to assemble, bright colors, precise cut of pieces, various forms, no piece displacement. The cardboard paper of the box and and the puzzle is thinner compared to Schmidt or Ravensburger, but so is the price. In my opinion - excellent value/price quotient.

Puzzle: Amsterdam Landscape by Castorland (Poland)
Size: 1000 pcs.
Time to assemble: 2 days

Mountain Valley Puzzle

Puzzle: Mountain Valley
Brand: Ravensburger 1000 pcs.
Time to assemble: two days

I finished another puzzle last night - I'm on a roll :)) This is from another exchange with a fellow puzzler. So far this is the most challenging of all 1000 pcs puzzles I've assembled. Usually my puzzles have a central distinctive building, wall, something, that I start assembling around. Here - lots of pieces with a splosh of yellow or red or violet, no central figure. This first configuration below took me probably two hours.

And at least two more hours for the sky:

 The grey and mint green slopes were fairly easy:

But then I got bored with the pine green slope and returned to the flower meadow:

This puzzle comes in a box of two puzzles, so I have another one to assemble tomorrow :)

And now - on something completely different :)
I suppose lots of fellow knitters are the same as me - while watching a movie, I notice every knitted item worn by the actors. Thus last night while watching a romantic comedy, Playing It Cool, I noticed this amazing and original neckpiece. It makes such a statement of the dress or tunic.

I even made a sketch of a tunic I'd knit for Gaby, probably next year - from bottom to top, with entrelac cable above the rib, plain stockinette stitch body, raglan sleeves with the same rib and cable wrist end, I-cord neckline and the chained neckpiece. I might also add a chained loose belt, if it doesn't look redundant.

There were other inspirational clothes - these almost identical sports sweaters make me think of a black cardigan with rainbow stripes on the front and matching slimmer rainbow stripes above the rib on the cuffs.

During this scene half of my brain tried to map the symmetrical pattern on the hat:

This scarf makes me think of a light summer cashmere and silk blend lace scarf with bubbles on the ridges.
I could probably crochet a zigzag cotton bag. So many ideas, so little time ...

Peles Puzzle

I've assembled another puzzle. This one I got from an exchange with another puzzle enthusiast for one of my puzzles. It was fairly difficult to assemble, but interesting and I finished it in two days. The quality of the brand - D-Toys, is comparable to Jumbo, but much inferior to my favourite Schmidt or Ravensburger. The pieces are almost all the same form, the cuts are wide, which allows misplacement and does not hold the pieces together well. But the picture itself is beautiful, I love castles and it was a joy to assemble it.

Puzzle: Peles Castle, Romania
Brand: D-Toys, 1000 pcs.
Time to assemble: 2 days

And the reason I loved it so much - I have very nice memories of visiting Peles castle with my family in the spring of 2009. I took a walk along memory lane today and chose a few pictures of the castle as we saw it then.

How grown the children are now!