28 Years

 Today, at 11am, I have been in New Zealand for 28 years.

I wouldn't change any of it 💖

Jigsaw #2 - The Four Seasons

 And within a week I have completed the next one, and this one is even 2000 pieces. Amazing what you can do when on holiday from work and taking time to relax.

This jigsaw I have had for a while, but like the start of last year, I didn't have a board big enough to complete it on. I had established over a year ago or more that this one would not fit on my felted board, so I stored all the sorted pieces in little bags and put the jigsaw away.

Fast forward to now, when I have finally come up with a solution and here, we go.

The easiest way I could think to complete this one was to sort the pieces by season. There were some distinct colours for each season, so it was not difficult. Although it was not fool proof and I was left with a box of pieces that could have gone absolutely anywhere. So, I did each season first and then filled in the gaps as I understood the picture.

It was fun to do, a steady piece of work that was done by either doing a large session sat with it or putting in a few pieces whenever I walked past. The old, find 10 pieces and have to put them in before I can leave. I find that makes it fun to do a small handful of pieces and then walk away.

Jigsaw #1 - Disney

 And the year has started. I finished my last jigsaw on 28 December and so, after deciding which one to complete next, sorting the pieces and then, in between activities and family, I have finally finished the first one of the year.

A really cute but slightly difficult and frustrating Disney one.

The top and bottom border were almost the death of me! The pieces were almost identical and getting the right shape together so that it went together correctly, was annoying. I think I undid it several times and at the end I had to redo the border to get it right!

It was a fun one to do, even if there were moments, but who can resist Disney and all my childhood characters.

2025 Jigsaw Update

 And just like that the year is ending.

I completed 32 jigsaws this past year, quite impressive considering I don't just sit around and do them all the time. They are my evening hobby and even then, sometimes it can be a few weeks between completing them.

There definitely was a conscious effort to complete a lot this year and that will roll into 2026 when I will be aiming to beat my annual total.

As mentioned in my posts, the jigsaws come from gifts, swapped, purchased brand new myself (usually always on sale), bought on Facebook marketplace or even loaned from a friend.

This next year, I need to complete some harder ones, ones that will challenge me a little more, push me out of my comfort zone. I have found some of them too easy. The colours are too simple to put together, the shapes are too easy to find. More detail leads to easier to complete. So, whilst there will be some that have a cute picture or fun design that I will complete because I want to enjoy them, I will be looking at larger more challenging ones that will take a little longer and challenge me more to complete.

I don't really have one that I hated doing this year, but I had two that were frustrating, and they both happened to be circular in shape!

The Floral Compass and Butterfly, although, reading back on the post I wrote about the Butterfly, I cursed more completing that one than any other, so guess that one was my worst to complete.

I don't have a particular one that was the best to complete, they were all fun and no one particularly stood out for me.

Onwards and upwards for 2026 and to see if I can beat 32 😊

Jigsaw 32 - Immersed in Nature

 I acquired this brand-new jigsaw from marketplace, so was cheap but had never been done before. Obviously, someone was having a clear out and did not now want to complete it. I do love catching great bargains like this.

This looked tricky due to the colours and it was, although it made separating the pieces into some distinct colours reasonably easy too.

I knew it would have moments of challenge and I am glad that it did.

Temu

 Oh the wonderful power of Temu shopping, the dark hole we all fall into and then surface from, minus a healthy balance on the credit card!

I don't think I know of one person who has ever not bought some crazy little thing from Temu, thinking it will be crap, happy to spend the small amount of cash for it just to see what it is like, only to then find it is the best thing they have ever bought and wonder how they survived life without it all this time! Ok, I do also know that there really is some total crap on there too!

When I shop there, which I do not make a habit of doing, I have found some good items on there at times, although jigsaws tend to show in the suggested section. I have often wondered about their 1000-piece jigsaws for only $7-9? Are they any good, are the pieces going to be paper thin and useless staying together. Are they going to even go together?

On my last order, I tempted fate and ordered a jigsaw, just to see what I got. I was prepared to sacrifice $9 for the cause.

I chose a design that I thought would be fun to complete, but also maybe a little on the semi easy side due to the main bold colours that would be easy to sort.

It came in my parcel a few days later, they are actually quite fast at getting deliveries to NZ, almost like it has actually come from NZ! 

Now, immediately, when I removed it from the delivery bag it was obvious there was going to be an issue but there were also the odd positive to start with. It came in a nice solid plastic box, and it had a poster of the picture too. It also had the alphabet on the back in a grid fashion so that you could complete sections if you wish by collecting all of the pieces with the letter 'A' and complete that section.

The quality of the pieces was good, nice thick sturdy pieces not paper thin, and they joined together very well. The only one downside of it all.......

The size of the pieces, yes, the box was no bigger that an A5 sheet of paper and the pieces, well a Paracetamol capsule was bigger than the pieces!

Yes, I had hit the one main problem with this jigsaw, it had micro size pieces. Now I don't remember seeing anything on the page that suggested it was a small jigsaw when finished, measuring maybe only A4 paper size and if I was to look at getting another jigsaw from Temu, I will definitely be checking the page thoroughly for finished measurement size!

I will report back more when I actually complete the jigsaw but for now, I would say the size is probably the only thing I can find wrong with it, so giving it a 9/10 on the product for what I can see, feel and establish that it seems to be a reasonably good quality jigsaw, just a little small!

Screen Door

 I have always wanted a fly screen door on the back door. I know, not your average wish but here in NZ I have noticed that the doors and windows are open a lot of the time. We do not have central heating, well, not that we don't have it in NZ just that most homes do not have it. I find that we need air movement in the house due to the fluctuating temps.

Back door can remain open but that leads to flies in the house and that aspect annoys me.

When I first started looking at screen doors then the roof we had over the back door prevented this from happening. I wrote about this back in March when the porch roof finally came down due to the pergola being acquired. That has led to me investigating doors and finally I found one. It has only taken a couple of many years to achieve this, but sometimes I can be patient.

Finally, I have a screen door at the back and I love it, just in time for the summer.