November 13, 2016 – My Jigsaw Journal

Vintage Love Letters by Aimee Stewart – Schmidt – 1000 pieces

I saw a review of this puzzle on Jigsaw Junkies and fell in love with the image. It was the first puzzle I purchased with the intent of gluing and framing it; isn’t it a beautiful, romantic image for the bedroom? Aimee Stewart is one of my favorite jigsaw puzzle artists; her work is beautiful and her use of colors is gorgeous!

This was also my first puzzle from Schmidt, and I must say I was even more impressed with the quality than I expected to be. Thank goodness I found the Jigsaw Junkies blog, without her brand comparison I would never have felt confident enough to try new puzzle brands. I don’t want to guess whether or not the quality of certain brands is good or not, why spend money if you’re unsure whether or not it’ll be worth it? The brand comparison pages are detailed and helped me to discover some really awesome brands I had never even heard of. Schmidt is one of them.

Although I have discovered in my years of assembling puzzles that everything is subjective. Everyone has their own opinions of what a good quality puzzle is, and the only way to know for sure is to try it yourself. There are many brands that Jigsaw Junkies say are great quality that I don’t care for at all; you have to try them and see what you think of them. There are probably brands I say are excellent that you wouldn’t like at all, because we have different tastes and opinions. Anyway, back to the puzzle!

The finish on the pieces feels almost luxurious, the pieces fit together satisfyingly well without being so tight you had to push them into place. The image quality is amazingly bright and detailed without being too over the top. I would definitely buy many more Schmidt puzzles without hesitation. The quality of this company impressed me, and once my self-imposed puzzle buying ban is over I’m looking for more!

BTW, the puzzle is framed and looks amazing. 🙂

The bathtub is taking shape, and some of the bubbles on the ground as well. It’s funny, when you’re working a large puzzle and staring at the pieces they don’t always look like what they are. What I saw today were brown and yellow pieces, dark brown and black, blue and white, and even some purple. When I stand back and look at it, I don’t see those colors anymore, I can see the bathtub starting to form! I know it sometimes seems that way with an average size puzzle, but it seems even more pronounced on these giant ones.

I kind of avoided working on the blues today, there’s just so many different shades in different places, it felt overwhelming. So I just tried working on little sections at a time and trying to see if I could connect any of them. Tomorrow I think I’ll have to suck it up and get going on the blue. The little guy needs some water in his tub!

I made it past 2000 pieces today, so we’re past the halfway mark. Making good time. 🙂 It’s a good thing I’m doing well, because I don’t know how much I’ll be able to work on it tomorrow. I did too much today and am paying for it, in addition to having errands to run. I hate running errands. Blech!