Fifty Shades of Puzzle

A few months ago I came to the conclusion that French women are very good at needlework and my family not.  This may be a sweeping conclusion but was the result of a select survey, my department at work and my daughters.  In my department there are two French ladies both of whom sew, one quilts and another, Natalie,  made these jolie cushion covers. 

On the other hand one of my daughters decided to adapt a sweatshirt and creatively chopped it in half. That was it, job done.  Maybe some would say that is resourceful.  

The other daughter, the online shopping genius, has a flair with a tacking stitch.  There is no other stitch in her repertoire, why should there be if the tacking stitch is completeness in its usefulness?   As for me, I have a love affair with wonderweb. 

So you can imagine my surprise when I received an email at work inviting me to a 'crafting session' at lunchtime.  I was one of 8 to get the email. (To put this into context we have 300 people in our office.) I immediately forwarded on to my French colleagues and felt that I had given the invitation its due consideration.

However, curiosity got the better of me, for two reasons, the first being that I hadn't put glue and paper in the same sentence since primary school and second that the session was to make Valentine’s Day crafts. The more I pondered the more convinced I became that Mr Him would absolutely adore a valentine’s crafted gift made by me instead of a box of Belgian Truffle chocolates, and so much cheaper. 

The appointed hour arrived and Natalie and I made our way to the ‘crafts room.’  The table was laid with heart templates and glue sticks were melting in readiness. We were to make puzzle hearts. The concept was to select a colour theme from the puzzle box then lay pieces upside down around our template.  Another upside down layer glued on top then a further layer.  Once dry it could be turned over and the result, voila, a decorative heart. 

I have to say the finished result was effective but in my case as fragile as my head on the occasional Saturday morning.  

Natalie created a bright yellow and blue decoration.  It has a French feel to the colours.

 Mine was a blend of greens and pinks, it was a blend of my Mr Him and I, a true representation. Muted yet wobbly round the edges like Mr Him and rustic like me.  

This original work of art is currently under lock and key in my desk drawer.  Every now and then I open to make sure it's real, that I hadn't dreamt up such an adventure.  Yes, it’s real.  Yes I did actually make this unique object d'art. 

Postscript

The unique object d'art was later mounted on board and puzzle pieces randomly scattered for a more complete visual effect.  Mr Him was stunned when I presented this as his Valentines gift.  Truly, he was speechless.

Natalie's Puzzle Heart is now in pride of place in her home as a photoframe.  It has subsequently been completed with photos as well. 








Mr Him's is hiding, in a camouflaged manner, in our living room.   If you look carefully you can see it backed against the wall hoping not to be noticed.