A jigsaw addict spent 17 months completing one of the world's
biggest puzzles.
Amanda Warrington had to painstakingly glue each of the
24,000 pieces to her living room wall as it was the only space in
her home big enough to accommodate the 14ft by
5ft puzzle.
The jigsaw called Life: The Great Challenge previously held
the record for the biggest commercially available puzzle in the
world when it was released in 2007.
The monster
puzzle features a range of animal, sea life and planet scenes and
when boxed weighs almost two stone.
Ms
Warrington, from Bristol, said her friends were shocked at the
level of patience she showed in completing the jigsaw.
The
50-year-old, who works for the Department for Work and Pensions,
said: 'I love a challenge.
'I must have
done at least 50 puzzles before but my favourites are doing the
difficult ones like the mosaics, globes or the baked beans
puzzle.
'I work full
time so I was doing between 30 minutes and an hour each day but I
have to admit sometimes I was staying up until 3am because I was
getting addicted.
'My friends
are amazed and think I'm a little mad as well. They don't
understand how I have so much patience.
'It gets to a
point where you become excited to get it finished but it's an odd
feeling now that it's not there to be done.'
Ms Warrington's sister bought
her the puzzle to feed her addiction to
jigsaws.
She said: 'I saw it on the
news and my sister bought it for me over the internet two years ago
because the family all know what a puzzle addict I am.
'Now that it is finished it
totally dominates my front room. When the sun comes through the
windows in the morning it has a very calming effect.
'The only other problem is
that it is glued to the wall so if I ever do move house I'll have
take the wall with me.'
Life: The Great Challenge was
officially registered as the world's largest commercial jigsaw
puzzle when it was released in 2007.
Designed by artist Royce B. McClure, it is made up of a
number of his previous paintings put together in one giant
puzzle.
He said the art in the bottom corner alone took 400 to
produce originally.
The
50-year-old said she had to glue the 14ft by 5ft puzzle to her wall
as it was the only space big enough in her house