Not Enough Time or Boards

On May 23, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Went to mom’s yesterday after a doctor’s appointment to see what she’d found at the thrift stores last week. All I can say is I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME OR BOARDS! I knew when I saw what she’d found that I’d want to do one or more of them right away. I’ve got a Wasgij going on my smaller board (that’s where the clock above comes from), and a Bits and Pieces going on my white board (I use the white board when I’m working in my room lying down), but there are more I want to be working on!

Mom found a Springbok octagonal puzzle from the early 70’s, a Jigsaw Puzzle for Dummies, an awesome looking puzzle from a company we’ve never heard of – and more! A couple of them that she found look like so much fun that I left them at her house cause I want to do them with her. She says looking for puzzles at the thrift stores is like a treasure hunt, she never knows what awesome gem she’s going to find. She’s found amazing puzzles at amazing prices and I just don’t have enough time or boards to work them all! Have I told you she found a 4000 piece Educa puzzle for $1.99?!?

I brought 3 adult puzzles home and all of the kids puzzles (I think 4 or 5). Unless they haven’t been opened I work the kids puzzles to be sure all the pieces are accounted for before giving them to my “grandson”; and also because even 100 piece puzzles are fun!

On the bright side, I have lots of incentive to finish the puzzles I’m already working on so I can start the new ones. I’m super excited to start the puzzles from companies we haven’t tried before, I always love trying new ones!

The thing is, she’s doing it all over again this week. Tuesday is one of the days she’s goes to the thrift stores in the evening – there’ll be more to look at and more that jump into the queue. 👍

I hope it doesn’t seem as if I’m complaining, because I’m not. I’m truly thankful for all that I have and I try not to take things for granted. I know I’m lucky to have the too many puzzles “problem”. This post isn’t really complaining about having so many puzzles to choose from, what it’s really about is that I have what I’m calling Menopausal A.D.D. My aging brain jumps from one thing to another, from one puzzle to another and I love everything so much that I want to be able to work on all of them at the same time. Ooh! Look! There’s something shiny on that puzzle! 😮

Lazy Sunday

On May 21, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

I’ve been under the weather for the past few days and not feeling well at all. Today feels like a day to just rest and relax and maybe do some window shopping for puzzles online. Perhaps a puzzle or two will find their way into my wishlist. 😊

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, restful Sunday. Perhaps while I’m lying in bed I’ll sort the edge pieces of a puzzle or two for when I’m feeling up to starting a new one. Mom was supposed to visit yesterday and show me the thrift store haul from last week, but maybe she’s feeling lazy too.

I should have plenty of time today to sit in bed and work on my posts for a few of the puzzles that I’ve finished but not yet posted. Back to our regularly scheduled puzzle posts tomorrow!

Holy Whiteness Batman!

On May 18, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

Noah’s Ark by Jean-Jacques Loup – Heye – 2000 pieces

I’m old enough to remember the Batman television show from the late 60’s and all the weird things Robin used to say (although in my defense I watched the reruns – the show was cancelled before I was born). When I stopped to think about a title for this post, Holy Whiteness Batman just popped into my bizarre, aging brain.

I don’t normally post about a puzzle in progress unless it’s the world’s largest puzzle. 😉 But this thing threatened to get the better of me yesterday and I wanted to show that I won!

I started working this 2000 piece puzzle and the edge pieces were all completely white! I love this image and have been looking forward to assembling this puzzle, but the edge on this sucker put me to the test.

The edge was started confidently, I knew it would take more time than usual, but didn’t think it was going to be a problem. Started from a corner and kept on going until I had to stop because I was almost running out of space on the board. All the pieces appeared to be placed correctly but obviously were not. A 2000 piece puzzle by Heye is normally about 50 pieces across and I was up around 58 or 60 pieces. Yikes!

Thankfully when I was sorting the puzzle I had pulled pieces for certain sections to work on first. So I decided it was time to stop working on the edge for a bit and perhaps it would be a good idea to assemble the words at the bottom. Then once those were assembled I would be able to begin again with the bottom edge and would have pieces to fit them into.

It turns out that was a good plan! Once the words were complete it was obvious what I had started was either the top edge of the puzzle, or it was the bottom – entirely wrong! Once the bottom row was properly assembled, the rest seemed to go much more quickly. With a couple of small sections removed from the edge I started on, I had most of the top row complete as well and only had the sides left to do.

Even then it seems that some of pieces are almost identical and seem to fit where they do not. Once I thought I had the correct piece I pulled it out of the way and kept on checking the rest of the pieces to be sure there wasn’t another one that might fit. Good thing too, as several times I was wrong and another piece fit even better. I’m hopeful that the edge is assembled correctly, but I won’t know for sure until I have the inside border assembled – luckily I pulled these pieces as well! If I’ve screwed it up I will know today and will be able to fix it quickly (I hope) and without much fuss.

This is not a problem I have had before with Heye puzzles, but I have also not assembled one of their puzzles with large sections of one color. To be fair, I was on pain medication yesterday so that may have been part of the problem, but I can’t blame it all on that. I looked very closely at the first part I had assembled and it looked like the pieces fit correctly! I still love Heye quality, but I know now to be careful when there is a lot of sameness and/or when I have had to take my pain meds!

I’m still looking forward to the assembly of this puzzle, and even though day one was a little stressful I think it’s going to be great fun!

Soon!

On May 16, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

As of yesterday we have a date set, the hall is reserved and I will FINALLY be able to assemble the entire 40,320 piece puzzle! I’m very excited, and even though it’s another month I have to wait I know that the date is coming up and it’s definitely going to be completely assembled. 😎

I had to make sure all the people I wanted to invite were able to come, and that’s why the date is so far away. It seems far away at the moment, but I know in the grand scheme of things it really isn’t. It took a little over 6 months to complete, so waiting another 4 weeks isn’t that much of an inconvenience (it just seems like one!)

I’m so looking forward to seeing the entire puzzle, I have a feeling it will be extremely overwhelming when all the sections are assembled and I can visualize my accomplishment. 😮

So, if you’ve been waiting to see me with the completed puzzle it won’t be too much longer that you have to wait. I promise I will let someone take my picture and I will definitely be posting pictures of the final assembly and the completed puzzle!

Why??

On May 9, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Aww, look at my little guy! I was inspired to try to get this picture by a fellow puzzler who just started this puzzle and took a picture of her 2 dogs inside the box, so adorable! My dude is a 31 pound Boston Terrier – yup, 31 pounds. He’s a mutant and very large for a Boston but he’s the sweetest boy ever! Although he doesn’t look happy here, he looks like my long-suffering friend who constantly has to put up with my weirdo jigsaw puzzle stuff. Why?? Why must I be in the box??

I’m working on a puzzle at the moment that I’m just not feeling, and I think it may be time to put it away for now. I’m not sure why now it isn’t working for me, but when the time is right I’ll pick it up again and it’ll be tons of fun! Timing is everything.

I haven’t made a decision on which puzzle to start next, but there are many, many to choose from – something fun and happy I think! 🙂 Just yesterday I was looking at Noah’s Ark by Loup (2000 pieces), and Tarzan by Mordillo (1000 pieces), they both look like so much fun! Also there’s a 750 piece sugar skull by Thaneeya McArdle that my daughter got for me that I’m very much looking forward to. Decisions, decisions!