My first 2000 piece puzzle in almost two years. Yay me! The image was so fun that I had to put aside all the anxiety-inducing thoughts and buy this one – and then I got the gumption up to start assembling it – I’m super proud of myself!

The sorting was the worst part for me; not only because there were so many pieces to go through, but also because seeing some of the pieces I really just wanted to get to the assembly. But the sorting does help tremendously when you finally do get to the assembly, and I’m not someone who can just scrabble through the box to find pieces, my OCD won’t allow it! 😏 I need all the pieces laid out or separated in some way, I just can’t help it.

I’ve never done a Big Ben puzzle with such a large piece count, and I was a little disappointed when I started sorting. The pieces are on the thin side, and small. But then again I had just finished a 300 piece Buffalo with very large pieces, so the comparison wasn’t very fair. Once I started working with it, the pieces didn’t seem so bad after all. The fit was good, if a little loose, and the pieces weren’t that small – it is a large 2000 piece puzzle after all – they can’t be huge or the finished puzzle wouldn’t fit on my board!

I loved this small section in the lower left corner, handwriting like this reminds me of my grandmother’s writing. When they used to teach penmanship in schools back in the day all the handwriting seemed similar, and my grandma’s writing looked like this. It makes me smile…

It was a little difficult to assemble as you can’t read the words very well, but I still enjoyed putting it together. I really do love assembling words. 🙂

I was talking with a puzzle friend recently about how when you initially sort a puzzle the pieces all seem so indistinct because you aren’t as familiar with them; but once you start working the puzzle you become more comfortable with them and start recognizing what certain colors are and then you feel more confident in sorting them into sections. That was certainly the case with this puzzle. There were a LOT of pieces that I had no idea where they would go – they seemed so dark and blotchy and I had no idea where they’d fit in. Once I got going and putting together the easier sections I got used to the puzzle and was able to sort it even more carefully. And I had a great time!

This section was one of the first that I put together. The colors are beautiful and it was very easy to sort these pieces out; plus it was quite entertaining. Believe it or not, the chocolate treats on the tray looked almost blue while I was sorting. It’s interesting how when you break a picture down into very small pieces how the colors seem so different than you’d think. It’s fun to figure out what everything is and where it belongs – that’s what we puzzlers love!