Puzzle Tutorial, part two

So, you've finished gluing your puzzle and it's been sitting for at least a day, drying, which is more than enough time, really...I've just been distracted by not getting back here until now!

Anyway, first you'll need to flip the puzzle over carefully and peel off any pieces of newspaper that are stuck.  Little bits aren't really going to matter, but you don't want huge pieces sticking off the sides!

Then, you gather your handy tools...simply a hammer and nails.  I like to use panelling nails, like these.

I have both brown and white but think I am going to use the white ones for this mounting.

Choose your spot on the wall (I have a spot where I've already got a bunch of nail holes from moving my quilting rulers around, and then changing my mind, so that's where this puzzle is going)

Then, you simply start nailing, placing the nail into the grooves between puzzle pieces.  I squared my puzzle up with the window next to it to be sure it was hanging straight.  I measured from the top of the puzzle to the window casing and then from the bottom of the puzzle to the window casing and these measurements should be somewhat close, give or take a centimeter!

Not quite exact, but close enough for me!

Space your nails about 6" - 8" apart depending on the size of the puzzle.  I tried to coordinate my nail placing with lighter spots on the puzzle, so as to try to hide the white nail heads as much as I could.

Then, step back and admire your "artwork"!

Yes, I deperately need new valances in here!  This lavender stripe is from when it was my daughter's room!  I just can't seem to decide what color or print would look good up there!

I tried looking through my old pictures to see if I could find some showing the walls of my basement with all the old puzzles up.  All I found was a couple of pictures from when I was a girl scout leader and hosted a Halloween party in 1993!

My oldest daughter is the dracula-looking creature that keeps sticking her tongue out in both pictures!   Why?....silly pre-teen stuff, I guess   :)

I'm the goofy-looking Ace of Spades on the right in the picture below

While I was pondering where to put my new picture puzzle, I took the time yesterday to re-organize my sewing room.

I found this little shelf unit at a local Goodwill store for only $2.  It was an awful shade of brown metal and terribly rickety, but my husband fixed that right up and now I store my current projects on it.  I needed it as I had to clear out some more room in my fabric closets for new fabrics.   I had "fun" organizing those yesterday.  It seems I need to re-stack the fabrics at least once every two months or so, as I tend to grab fabric quickly and not take time to pull it out carefully.

These are just two of them...I have two more just like them in my office/study, which used to be the room that I used as both a sewing room AND an office.






Now that my youngest daughter has her own apartment, I have usurped both rooms and can spread my work areas out a bit.  One daughter remains at home, and as soon as she is gone, we joke about turning her bedroom in the mailing center!

I'm going to try a Rachael Ray recipe for dinner tonight...Palomilla Steaks!

Don't ask me what that means, I just know I saw her cooking it on TV last week and knew I wanted to try it.  I also LOVE carmelized onions, so I'm hoping this will be delicious!  Perhaps we'll have some sort of potatoes along with it.  Here's the link in case you'd like to give it a try....Palomilla Steaks.

Well, it's already after noon, and I have yet to get into my sewing room for the day to do anything besides hang a puzzle!

Cheers!