Puzzle 848, I and the Village, a Chagall print, is notable as it is the first puzzle I've made with intricate outer and inner borders.

As it happened (from my Journal archives)

December 6, 2011

Tuesday 5:05 PM - I'm going to give my shoulder another day of rest, will start the Chagall on Thursday.

December 8, 2011

Thursday 5:19 PM - Yesterday I received shipment of the Salvador Dali The Last Supper puzzle I made in August of 2005, from the owner. The customer placed a broken piece in an envelope, I'll examine it later to see if it is possible to repair the very delicate piece, I will need to locate the pieces which fit around the broken piece.

Meanwhile for various reasons I've been delayed getting to #848, I and the Village. The customer has requested a rather intricate border plus some text pieces and these items will take a while to design. I have begun preliminary design work. I expect to get the design done tomorrow with cutting beginning on Saturday. I hope to have the puzzle completed and shipped by next Tuesday at the latest. My shoulder is feeling a lot better.

December 10, 2011

Saturday 9:13 PM - I'm somewhat behind on posting here, now catching up. On Friday I completed the design of the border, the four name text piece dropouts and selected figurals for the puzzle. I then went to the shop and started work on the interior "border". The work is taking "forever", was there for 2-3 hours. Today back to the shop for another 3 hours or so, the border still not done. Tomorrow I'll complete the border and do the four text dropouts.

A short while ago I came back from Michael Seewald's annual Christmas Party / Art Reception, showing off his latest adventure - Vietnam! Many beautiful pictures. It was interesting to see prominently displayed elsewhere in his gallery so many photographs of imagery that I've used in puzzles past!

December 11, 2011

Sunday 2:28 PM - Today I went to the shop and cut for close to four hours straight, completing the complex border and then the four text-name dropouts. And I cut one piece in the process! In terms of piece count, the pace will now dramatically pick up. I do have three figurals, the signature piece and two or three Creative pieces to do, the rest will be Long Round.

I have to get my car maintained tomorrow and then drive someone to the airport, physical therapy on Tuesday for the shoulder, with these distractions looks like I'll get the puzzle done on Wednesday.

December 12, 2011

Monday 6:08 PM - Rain today. Managed to get 2-3 hours of cutting in this afternoon for puzzle #848, I and the Village. The complex border makes cutting "regular" Long Round more challenging while maintaining a reasonable interlock. Today I cut about 150 pieces, about 25% of the projected total. I expect to get a few more hours in tomorrow and my goal is to complete the puzzle on Wednesday and ship it on Thursday.

Tuesday 10:23 PM - Various distractions have been keeping me from rapidly posting progress here, but here is today's update! More rain today, quite cold in the shop, best I could do is get it up to 62 degrees, so I was somewhat bundled up to keep warm while cutting. Made good progress cutting another 170 pieces or so, now just past the 1/2 way mark, cutting is going well.

Tomorrow morning I have to stay home waiting for delivery of a dining room table and chairs, in the afternoon I'll get some more cutting in. Completion will likely slip until Thursday.

December 14, 2011

Wednesday 4:37 PM - I was able to spend an extended day at the shop - about six hours. Puzzle #848, I and the Village, is done! Cutting went well and I didn't encounter any voids at all. I'll post pictures tomorrow along with the final piece count. The puzzle will ship tomorrow. Also, I prepared the boards for the next two puzzles, I plan to mount the images for these puzzles tonight. I'm going to concentrate fairly intensely on puzzles the next few days, my goal is to get both #849, Large King Owl and #850, Green Dragon done by the end of this weekend and ship them by Tuesday at the latest. Then I'll be done for the year.

December 16, 2011

Friday 4:59 PM - Yesterday I shipped #848, I and the Village, final piece count 603.

Here are some overdue pictures of I and the Village:

Puzzle #848, Figurals

Puzzle #848, outer section

Puzzle #848, inner section