Friday 11-04-16

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Almost there!

A little bit of progress today, just over 300 pieces to go! Either tomorrow or Sunday it should be finished. Most likely tomorrow, because hubby likes to help at the tail end of puzzles. He can swoop in when it’s almost done and help finish it, without having to do any of the hard stuff. That’s ok, I enjoy having someone work on a puzzle with me. It’s nice to talk and help each other find pieces, it makes it seem more fun even though I think puzzles are fun even if it’s just me working them. Sometimes I even let him put the last piece of the puzzle in if I’m feeling generous. That last piece is the best!

I got two whole rows filled in on the left side of the puzzle, and am working on filling in the bottom before the actual twinklies start. Shouldn’t be too much longer now and I’ll be 100% done with Cinderella and 20% done with the entire puzzle. YES!!!

As of right now I’ve decided to do Dumbo next. That may change before I actually have to pull the bag and start sorting, but I doubt it. The adorable little elephant is up next. I may have to be reminded of how adorable he is later on when I’m sick of looking at his face (you know, how you feel about your kids or your spouse when they’re being buttheads) 🙂

Don’t change that dial!  A complete Cinderella should be up next!

World War II Posters

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World War II Posters – White Mountain Puzzles – 1000 pieces

I adore collage puzzles, and this one was no exception. As an added treat all the posters were interesting and actually had my mother and I looking things up online to find out more information. Apparently saving your used “waste fats” like bacon grease or meat drippings for use in explosives was one of the ways people could help in the war effort. Also saving scrap metal, rags, not wasting food, not traveling, etc. So many interesting tidbits!

Collage puzzles seem to suck me in because finishing one small section leads to having pieces already in place for the next section. It’s easy to pick out all the pieces of the same color to work on each “little puzzle”. This was a super fun puzzle for me; informative, interesting, and just plain cool looking! Thanks to my daughter for buying this one – I’m not sure if I would have purchased it myself but I’m glad she did. White Mountain has so many excellent collage puzzles and many of them are on my wish list.

Thursday 11-03-16

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So close to the end!

I didn’t work very long on the puzzle today, but got a lot done because it’s so near the end and the pieces seem to go in faster. I’m already deciding what section to do next. I was thinking Dumbo (so cute with Dumbo taking a bath), my husband suggested The Jungle Book (my favorite Disney movie, best songs!) I’ll have to see what mom says tomorrow and see if there’s any agreement or if we have 3 different suggestions. Bambi and Beauty and The Beast look like the easiest ones to me, so I want to save them for the last two.

Finally finished all the dark pieces, dark blue border and edge pieces. Yay me! I put all the remaining pieces on trays separated by shape, and was even able to find those two bleeping pieces I was missing in the middle of the stagecoach. YES!!! I quit early tonight and am laying in bed with my heating pad and my dog. I may even work on my Civil War Generals puzzle if I can’t sleep yet.

Visiting day with mom tomorrow so progress will be minimal. I will try to work some in the morning before I go and in the evening after I get home. Hopefully before the weekend is over this baby will be done and out of my hair. 3557 pieces down and only 475 to go! Perhaps I worked faster on this one because I wanted to get it over with. But even when it was frustrating me I was still kinda enjoying the frustration, because I know once I get to the end and every piece is in it’s proper place that I will be so proud of myself!

Wednesday 11-02-16

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Super frustrating day working on the puzzle, there are so many pieces that are the same shape and color with only minute differences and I kept finding pieces I had placed incorrectly. Grrrr!

It’s getting close, I may be able to finish this by the end of this weekend. We’ll have to see. I’ve been pushing myself to get it done, perhaps working when I should be resting, and it’s catching up with me. I have to take it a little more slowly. There are still PLENTY of pieces left in this puzzle, maybe about 33,000!!

It’s looking really good, but man is this puzzle even harder than it looks! Of course if it were too easy it wouldn’t be as much fun. I may be able to finish the dark blue and the edge tomorrow. Have to wait and see how I’m feeling, I might need to take it easy and not do as much as I have been doing. Hopefully all the dark will be finished at least, that stuff is kicking my butt!

Candied Apples and Candy Corn

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Candied Apples and Candy Corn by Jane Wooster Scott – Ceaco – 584 pieces

This is not your normal Ceaco puzzle, the pieces were backed with thick cork board and there were a lot of whimsies – there were balloons, a dog, a train, birds, even a clown! SO MUCH FUN! As an added bonus there are 42 pieces of the puzzle that you can assemble separately to make a juggling clown. I didn’t do that part, but what a cool idea!

The puzzle was only 584 pieces, but they were quite large – almost too big for my whiteboard which I used at the time for regular 1000 piece puzzles (20″ x 27″). It wasn’t an easy puzzle by any means, the two trees at the top took me an hour 😮 It’s more challenging with the random cut of the pieces and whimsies, but I enjoyed every moment and love, love, LOVE THIS PUZZLE!

I used to tell my mom to stop buying puzzles at thrift stores because we have so many, and she’s always buying more. Not anymore. If it makes her happy she should go for it, I should keep my mouth shut – not to mention she sometimes finds amazing puzzles like this one. Best thrift store find of the year! (I checked online to find a price, and found one new for sale at a retail store for $124.00!)