No Puzzling In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling29 Comments

I’d show you a picture of an empty board today, but to be honest the puzzle that was in progress three days ago is still sitting there. It is complete, but it’s still on the board and I haven’t started anything else. 😐

To be completely honest, I’m in the middle of a major depressive funk that has me doing almost nothing all day long. Usually I don’t discuss things like this, but I think part of the problem with mental health issues is that we don’t discuss them – and I’ve seriously had enough of pretending to be happy and positive all the time.

Many of us around the world have depression, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with having it or admitting we have it. By talking about it, we find out that although it may seem as though we’re alone – we are not. And also that having depression or anxiety isn’t a failing, it doesn’t make you weak, it doesn’t mean you’re a “mental case”; it just means that you’re human and you may have a chemical imbalance. Just because you put the word “mental” in front of “illness” doesn’t mean you’re crazy.

I’m not crazy. I may love jigsaw puzzles to an almost unhealthy degree, but I am not crazy. I’m depressed. I have serious anxiety problems – still not crazy.

A couple of years ago I developed an “electrical problem” in my heart. It caused a serious rapid heartbeat called tachycardia that had me hospitalized twice and in jeopardy of having a heart attack or a stroke. Since then I’ve had to take medication to keep the electrical system in my heart working properly; the only problem is that it cannot be taken with antidepressants. I’d been on antidepressants for many years, but in the choice between being less depressed and having a heartbeat – you can imagine which one I chose.

So, with the changes in pain medications that cause me serious problems and more pain, the world in the midst of a pandemic costing many lives, and a host of other small things – I’m having an extremely tough time right now. And if we don’t talk about things like being anxious or depressed – or both – things aren’t ever going to change or get better.

So instead of telling you what’s in progress today and pretending that all is well; I’m telling you that all is not well, nothing is in progress, and I am just doing the best I can.

The Avengers

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments
The Avengers
The Avengers – Cardinal – 300 pieces

I bought this to assemble and glue to hang in the bedroom of my youngest son. He is a self-professed Comic Book Nerd, and loves to talk about it for hours on end. Mostly he talks to himself, but the entire time I was putting this one together he stayed in the room to watch and I heard about The Avengers, and when it was released, and who played who in the movies, and who the original artist was, etc., etc. etc.

For. The. Entire. Time.

Thank goodness this went together quickly! 😉

The quality was good/fair, and I have to say I adored the artwork – especially the look of the hands holding the comic book. Even the frayed edges of the comic book look amazingly realistic, it seems almost like a Norman Rockwell with its amazing accuracy. I searched every inch of the box to find the name of the artist, but I found nothing at all; it would have been nice to give credit for the exceptional artwork.

The Avengers 1

This just made me smile. It makes me think of the old movie trailers that told us all about the thrills and chills we’d be experiencing if we saw a particular movie. I’m smiling now just typing this up. 🙂

Banana Split

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments
Banana Split
Banana Split by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Ah, a puzzle from a good brand with an image by Aimee Stewart. My happy place. Beautiful, fun, not too easy – the perfect combination for puzzlers both new and seasoned. 💜

Because there are so many different items, colors, textures, and elements you don’t have to focus on the image as a whole when you begin assembling. When you’re turning pieces over, or sorting, or whatever you do when you start a puzzle you will see things that stand out to you. A tablespoon of sprinkles, the striped containers, waffle cones, words, etc.; and you can start small with whatever small image or section you choose. You don’t have to worry about dealing with it all at once like you do when you’re assembling a landscape where 1/3 of the image is the sky or water, etc.

Banana Split 1

This was the first thing I assembled, even before the words. I usually go for all the words first, but these pieces were so easy to pick out, and I was just inspired to start with them. It wasn’t as easy to assemble as it was to sort, but the strawberries certainly were fun! (And I missed a few of the green pieces which made it a little more of a challenge.)

Banana Split 2

The banana split in the middle of the image was the absolute hardest part for me, and pretty much the very last thing I assembled. With those bright colors you’d think it would have been much easier, but it definitely wasn’t – at least for me. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it though, I enjoyed it very much!

Banana Split 3

These cute little guys were so difficult to find and put together, almost all the pieces looked as if they belonged somewhere else – either that or I’m slipping a bit. No matter, I absolutely love the vintage look of them, they are so adorable!

I think I’m down to only one more Aimee Stewart puzzle here at home 😱 but it seems as though many of the puzzle manufacturers and retailers have been getting back to work and restocking, so perhaps I’ll be able to get myself a few more soon. I certainly hope so, only one more of her puzzles here to assemble just won’t do!

Ernest In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments
Ernest IP
Ernest by Jeff Foxworthy – Cardinal – 300 pieces

Things are going slowly in the ongoing saga of Stacey and her meds, and unfortunately I have yet to get back to a larger puzzle. My plan was to start a 1000 or 2000 piece after finishing the Josephine Wall, but it just hasn’t worked out yet.

Normally my preference is to move around on piece counts; after I finish a small puzzle it’s time for a larger one, and vice versa. That hasn’t been what’s going on with me lately. I re-assembled another one of my sets of 12 shaped mini puzzles during this week in bed, but haven’t been able to get myself back to sitting at the puzzle table for any length of time.

My next puzzle did get partially sorted (while I was sitting in bed), and when I couldn’t sleep last night the edges finally got put together, and a little bit at the top.

I hope your weekend is a bit more productive than my week has been.

Happy puzzling! 🧩

Cat

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments
Cat
Cat by Franz Marc – Artifact – 138 pieces

Words cannot express how much fun this was! It’s a difficult puzzle, with wonderfully designed pieces that made for a demanding assembly. It kept me completely focused on how the pieces fit together and completely out of my head – what more could you ask for in these trying times?

At only 138 pieces it took much longer than one would expect, the Artifact Puzzles website says it should take 4.5 hours to complete. It didn’t take me that long, but it’s hard to track how long it actually took. I have to work in fits and starts because I cannot sit for long periods of time; but the time I did spend was wonderful – I relished the challenge and enjoyed the placement of every single piece.

Cat 2

The pieces were incredible, and once you figured out how things fit together it was such a fun assembly! My youngest son, who never wants to help with puzzles, unbelievably spent many minutes searching for the right pieces, helped me find a few, and put some in himself. (A minor miracle!) When you look at them it seems ridiculous that they would all fit together to form a rectangular image, but it does – and spectacularly so.

Cat 1

There were only a few whimsies, all cats. There was one for each corner, and one that seemed to be stretching out and touching the sleeping cat’s ear to wake up or play with him/her. How freakin’ adorable is that?!

Ecru puzzles at Artifact is their more expensive line, characterized by a closer cut (for a better fit and less obvious piece shapes in the finished image) and a matte finish for less glare. I bought this one because as someone greatly affected by my P.A.D.S. symptoms – such a severe case, it’s sad really – I couldn’t keep myself from constantly checking puzzle websites to see if anyone was selling and shipping puzzles. To my great joy this puzzle was one of a few available on the Artifact site, and my joy seemed to blind me to anything other than “Can you please, please, PLEASE send me a puzzle?!?”.

They could. I clicked. They shipped. Puzzle bliss. Happy P.A.D.S. lady. 💃😁💃

I was surprised at how well the pieces fit together, and how beautiful the finished puzzle was. Compare the fit of this image to another Artifact puzzle I assembled and look at the difference in how obvious the piece shapes are…

Cat by Franz Marc – Artifact – 138 pieces
In Dreams by Geoffrey Gersten – Artifact Puzzles – 116 pieces

“Cat” looks more like a picture, or artwork; where “In Dreams” looks like a puzzle. The Ecru line at Artifact is more expensive, but if the finished image is what you’re all about (in addition to the assembly) then the added expensive seems worth it. I love both of these, because in general I love jigsaw puzzles. For me, if it “looks like” a puzzle because you can see the shapes, I’ve still enjoyed the assembly which is always my bottom line. If you go back and look through this blog you will see that with every puzzle that had obvious pieces shapes, I told you that obvious shapes in the finished image did not detract from my enjoyment of the assembly. Puzzles, for me, except for but a small few, are to be assembled and enjoyed and then sent on to others for the same.

I flipped the puzzle over to show you how all these interesting shapes fit together, it’s much more apparent from the back…

Cat 3

I enjoyed this puzzle much more than I expected to, it was so much fun! They have puzzle designers at Artifact who come up with some amazing piece shapes – I don’t think I’m imaginative enough to do that job, but I’m so unbelievably thankful for the people who are. This is definitely a puzzle that I’ll be assembling again, it was FANTASTIC!