Friday 8 December 2017

Advent Calendar Day 8: Sleigh

I was going to share a photograph of a sleigh full of toys, but then I remembered this jigsaw puzzle and thought…aha!



It came from a charity shop, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when I found it was missing a few pieces. What confused me was the ‘jigsaw complete’ label attached to the box. It would have made it a whole lot simpler had I realised I was never going to find the tip of the dogs tail or the little bird in the tree!


It took a long time to complete partly because of the missing pieces and partly because it has an iridescent finish which makes it difficult to do in anything other than natural daylight (something we are short of in the winter).  


I still love it even with the missing pieces, especially as the design is by Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone.

Photograph of Janet and Anne Grahame Johnstone 
from Dean & Son Ltd, via Wikipedia

Janet and Anne were prolific illustrators, and their work is now eagerly collected. I put together a bibliography of their books back in 2013. It's not been updated for a while, but you will find it here should you be interested.


I'm linking with Julie over at Julie's Scrapbook.    More from my Advent Calendar tomorrow. 

28 comments:

  1. One of my brothers loves jigsaws. I don't have the patience. Or the eye.
    I can well understand why you love this one though, tiny imperfections and all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know they are not everyone's cup of tea, but I quite like doing them on cold winter evenings.

      Delete
  2. "Ding~Dong~Merrily~On ~High....!!!
    ooooops! Sorry! That was yesterday..! :).

    Me and jigsaws, don't get on l'm afraid..
    Patience...or lack of it...though l have
    been seen, doing a jigsaw, jigsaw piece
    in one hand, and a pair of scissors in
    the other...Grrrrr! I'll make it fit if
    it kills me..!!! :0).

    The Snow Queen looks lovely...let's hope
    she does'nt slip and fall on her crown..! :).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You do make me laugh! Are you sure you didn’t do this one before me – it could explain the missing pieces?

      Delete
  3. Lovely jig-saw

    I had a big pile of jig-saws from the seventies of famous paintings I gave to an old lady who was a neighbour of my dads, she did them with her daughter then passed them on to a charity shop. there was about a dozen and it took her about two months to do them

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I only ever buy them from charity shops, and I usually give them back once they are done, but I like this one too much to part with it. I’m much slower than your dad's neighbour though and one can often take months, especially if I only put two or three pieces in each day. xx

      Delete
  4. Oh, now this is one of my all-time favorites; everything white and magical, and these illustrations of the Ice Queen are remarkable. OH I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew you would like it because it reminded me of some of your beautiful winter photography. xx

      Delete
  5. I used to work with a gentleman who adored jigsaw puzzles and he was really good at finding all the pieces quickly to put them all together. This puzzle is absolutely stunning! Hugs...RO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello RO, it’s a beauty isn’t it? I’m very different from that gentleman because they often take weeks.

      Delete
  6. This is such a beautiful jigsaw puzzle, I see why some folks glue them up and display them as art!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a restaurant in Salisbury (Wiltshire, UK) that has dozens of framed jigsaw puzzles on the walls. They change them depending on the season, at the moment they are all Christmas scenes, which look lovely.

      Delete
  7. I have never been able to do jigsaw puzzles. I really admire how you put this one together! Especially since there is not much in the way of colour clues. I used to at least be able to do bits once I sorted the colours. And missing pieces! Well worth your effort-it is beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Colleen, it was quite tricky, but I enjoyed doing it and Terry lent a hand. I always start by finding all the outside pieces and then work inwards. The lack of coloured pieces certainly didn’t help, but it was worth it in the end. xx

      Delete
  8. Great lateral thinking! It can't have been easy to do with all those white and blue pieces!
    Arilx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are quite right it wasn’t easy, but that just added to the sense of achievement when it was done.

      Delete
  9. This advent calendar series is wonderful. I really love the illustration work on this puzzle. Oh, if I had the talent how fun to design fairy tale illustrations!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used to draw all kinds of fairy tale pictures when I was a child but haven’t tried since – maybe I should, and maybe you should too! We might surprise ourselves. Thank you for your very sweet comment.

      Delete
  10. That's beautiful & glad you chose that one for us all to see. I love jigsaw puzzles & hubby & I have a small collection of WASGIJ's that are fun to do. Not done a jigsaw for a while though, so after our busy period, I should get one out. Thanks & take care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Sue, I was thoroughly confused about WASGIJ’s – how backward am I??? We don’t do them often but it’s nice to have one on the go when it’s dark and cold outside.

      Delete
  11. Once again I'm late to the party, but I'm so glad you shared this beauty with us as your Advent pick of the day. This is a beautiful puzzle and the Johnstones drew some gorgeous illustrations. Sadly, I've often found the photo on the front of the jigsaw puzzle box isn't really true to form.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are always welcome, early or late. It is a beautiful illustration and actually very close to the way it is portrayed on the box. The only real difference is the amount of sheen on the puzzle not present on the box.

      Delete
  12. What a beautiful scene from The Snow Queen. It must have been frustrating searching for the bird and dog's tail. I didn't know about Janet and Anne, such a talented set of twins!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. It was beyond frustrating Marcia, especially when got down to a few pieces and realised they were missing.

      Delete
  13. A perfect choice for sleigh! Jigsaws can be a bit frustrating when a couple of pieces are missing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are not wrong Darlene. It might have been easier had we realised they were missing.

      Delete
  14. What a gorgeous puzzle! I love it! My mom really loves jigsaw puzzles! That is her treat, to get some every year! Truly, this one is breathe taking! Big Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your mum and I are on the same wavelength – I love jigsaw puzzles too. x

      Delete

I really appreciate your comment. Thank you!
Barbara xx