Tag: Jigsaw Puzzling

Family Dinner In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Family Dinner by Ed Wargo – Rose Art (Back to the Past) – 750 pieces

There’s a bit of glare on this picture, my apologies. Otherwise though, it looks pretty good, and the assembly is going very well. It’s a challenging puzzle, with both the painterly style and the block-type pieces, but I’m having fun figuring everything out.

This is another thrift store puzzle, and I’m hoping it’s complete because I absolutely adore this artwork by Ed Wargo. I can also tell you that it isn’t for sale anywhere that I could find. There are quite a few Rose Art Back to the Past puzzles available, but this is NOT one of them, it seems to be out of print (or at least out of print for right now). It makes me so thankful for thrift stores and people who pass along their puzzles for others to do; what a gift to allow others to find puzzles that make them happy at a discounted price while also helping out local businesses or charities. Thrift store puzzles are awesome!

*Someone please gently remind me of that the next time I have a thrift store puzzle with many missing pieces. You haven’t seen the post about it yet, but maybe check out the June completed puzzles page for this year and see my Sunflowers puzzle.🤬*

And so today after a lazy Sunday of napping, puzzling, napping, and shopping online for puzzles it’s time to get back to it. I’m hoping to have this one finished this morning. Only three trays of pieces left to go!

Quilting Bee In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

Quilting Bee by Kay Lamb Shannon – Bits & Pieces – 300 pieces (Large Piece)

This one is coming along, yesterday was a pretty bad pain day for me so I didn’t get far on this puzzle before I stopped and took a nap. Naps are amazing. I love naps. Sorry, I got off track there. Apologies. Anyway, about this puzzle, it shouldn’t take me too long today to finish it up – it’s coming together quite nicely.

I’ve found that many companies whose quality I don’t necessarily care for have very nice large piece puzzles. The bigger pieces for easier handling seem as though they’re thicker and sturdier and they fit together well. These fit into that category and are nice quality puzzles, and I’m very happy with them so far.

After the border all the red pieces were pulled out and I put together all the red clothes and the tractor – didn’t pull barn pieces because they look much more orange, and I’m trying to save the quilt for last as I know it’s going to be fun to do. Next it’ll be grass, animals, a few people and some buildings until we get to the quilt at the end.

On my second visit to the thrift store this year I found two multipacks of Bits & Pieces puzzles; one was a set of four 300 large piece puzzles with images by Kay Lamb Shannon – including this one, the second was a set of four 500 piece puzzles with images by Larry Jones. Bits & Pieces is a company I don’t purchase new, but if there are good images and I can check out the pieces first I will buy them used. These were all good looking puzzles with not too much wear, they had images inside for each puzzle, and they were all bagged separately. Not every thrifted puzzle is that well taken care of, these were a bargain, and now I have several smaller piece count puzzles here to choose from when a larger puzzle isn’t what I want.

Mom and I always carried something sharp in our purses, along with a small roll of tape when we went thrift store shopping. There are a few brands we won’t buy unless we can look at the pieces, and with our tools we could open up a box to look at it’s contents, and tape it back up if we decided not to buy it. I have gotten back into that habit, so I’m always ready to check things out if I need to take a peek inside. 😉

What I’ve Been Doing

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous6 Comments

Once I came back to the puzzle table after my two year hiatus, in addition to working on jigsaw puzzles I’ve been re-reading through the blog. Every. Single. Post.

I started at the beginning in September of 2016 when I received the enormous box containing the Memorable Disney Moments puzzle with 40,320 pieces and kept reading right on through. Of course it was way too many posts to read in one sitting, and when it was too painful to sit in a chair putting puzzles together I would take my computer and read through old posts in bed. It was nice to refamiliarize myself with all the puzzles I’ve done, read all about what fantastic puzzles mom would find at the thrift stores and how much fun we had working on them together, and to read through all the many moods of me. (Apparently when Stacey is p*ssed off she can be VERY funny!😈)

And even though I had just read through the entire blog my memory isn’t what it used to be. I was thinking about all my mini puzzles; which ones I had already done and which ones were yet to be assembled. So one very early morning when sleep eluded me I went through all my Wentworth mini puzzles and all my MicroPuzzles to see which ones had already been completed and which ones I had yet to do. My memory can’t be trusted so I used the blog to search for each image to be certain whether or not a particular title had been posted about. I was shocked to find that there were only five Wentworths that I haven’t done – but even more shocking there were FORTY MicroPuzzles that needed some puzzle love!

The picture above is just some of the MicroPuzzles that still need to be assembled. I was a member of the subscription service, and even when I stopped puzzling for a while the mini puzzles kept right on coming through the mail. At some point I had to replace my debit card and the subscription service stopped. (I’m kicking myself now that I didn’t take care of keeping the subscription going when that happened, because now MicroPuzzles has ended their subscription service and all those fantastic images that were unique to subscribers only are gone forever.😥)

Anyway, now all the mini puzzles that need assembling are back in the puzzle room where they belong. Hubby did some work in there while I was away from the blog, and moved all my puzzles around. I had a system, and he bleeped it up! I had shelves for puzzles that were yet to be assembled, piles and boxes of puzzles to be donated, some that were being sent to Penny, and now I don’t know what’s what anymore. All the puzzles are on new shelving units in my walk-in closet, and I’m going to end up having to take my computer in there to check which puzzles I’ve done and which still need putting together. Many of them I know for sure whether or not they’ve been done, but there are even MORE that I have no idea whether or not it’s been assembled yet and I’ll have to check the titles against the blog posts to see what’s what.

So in addition to assembling puzzles, writing up posts, and window shopping for new puzzles online I’ll have to slowly go through all the puzzles that are here and figure out which group they belong in. I’m actually looking forward to it though (just don’t tell hubby); it’s kind of nice to take a trip down memory lane every once in a while. And I’m certain I’ll find some great puzzles that I forgot I had!

Seattle In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous19 Comments

Seattle by Eric Dowdle – Dowdle Puzzles (Mini Wooden Puzzle) – 250 pieces

This gorgeous little beauty has been sitting partially assembled on my board for several days. I received a care package from The Puzzle Fairy (aka Penny) on Saturday, and immediately wanted to try out this mini wooden puzzle. The pieces are so small – about the size of a dime! I started it on a tray in the bedroom, but this little guy needed better lighting so I had to transfer it to the puzzle room. Sorry about the wonky picture, didn’t realize that I cut off one of the corners until just now and I’m too tired to retake it.

Unfortunately that evening around dinner time my dad called and asked me to take him to the hospital, and that’s basically where I’ve been every day since. He was admitted on Saturday night, and we’re still there. There hasn’t been much puzzling going on, but there has been plenty of sitting around on uncomfortable hospital seating. I’m hoping that today I can maybe do a MicroPuzzle or perhaps one of my Wentworth minis.

If I hadn’t started this puzzle before we got the call I might have taken it to the hospital the first morning he had his own room, but actually I’m glad I didn’t. The fit is so loose that it needs constant readjustment whenever anything gets moved. Honestly, it’s one of the loosest fitting wooden puzzles I’ve ever done, and without my fabric covered board to help keep the pieces from moving too much it would be a giant pain in the butt!

Even with the loose fit I’m still really enjoying this – even if I only find one or two pieces at a time. The artwork is beautiful, and though I find Eric Dowdle’s images challenging to puzzle it remains an entertaining little assembly. At first I thought I was going to use the little poster that comes with it, but I found that I’d rather take my time and enjoy finding each piece on my own rather than know exactly what I was looking for and where it went. Sometimes I use a poster, but lately I’m just enjoying the puzzles however it makes sense for me on that particular day. It’s been fun!

It struck me as odd after typing up the previous paragraph that my last White Mountain puzzle had me complaining about the loose fit, and here I am saying that although this puzzle has an extremely loose fit that I’m enjoying the assembly. I have no excuses or explanations – all I can tell you is that it’s the truth.

It’s been nice to have this puzzle sitting on my board so that when I come home after spending all day at the hospital I can sit down, even if it’s only for a few moments and find a piece or two to add. Last night, I sat down, found one piece, and that was it. At least I can say I did a teeny tiny bit of puzzling yesterday; even just finding that one piece made me happy, and isn’t that what it’s all about?

*If you have a spare few moments today, send a good thought for my dad that he continues to improve and that we’ll be able to get him home from the hospital without needing any surgery. Thank you my friends. 💕

Living In Bird World In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous7 Comments

Living In Bird World by Lisa Houck – Liberty Puzzles – 498 pieces

I’m having a bad day today, and this beautiful Liberty Puzzle has been helping me keep my mind off of things. That’s number 138 on the list of reasons why puzzling is good for your mental health. When you work on a puzzle it isn’t possible to multi-task, every part of your brain must be engaged with finding out what shape, cut, and color you’re looking for. The best puzzles can do that with ease, they keep you engrossed in what you’re doing, there’s no time to dwell on problems you may have or situations you can’t change, etc. It’s a mindful, peaceful meditation, and that’s just what I needed today.

I love to puzzle and being a dissectologist has been such a blessing in my life.🧩❤

The symmetrical section with many repeating pieces is where I started, that’s the top section shown; when that began to become more difficult and I needed something a bit easier I went with the darker section of dots in the bottom corner. It took a bit to reorient my brain to how all these pieces worked together, but from then on it’s been pretty smooth sailing. When that was finished I started on the smaller dots in the section above it and that’s where I am now. I’ve pulled out all the pieces (I hope) with the dots on the light background and am attempting to put everything into it’s place and hopefully connect these two sections together.

When I work a premium wooden puzzle like this one I normally put the box away where I cannot easily catch a glimpse of the image on the box. It makes the assembly last a little longer for me and I enjoy figuring out where each piece and whimsy fits into the overall picture. And when I’m finished it gives me a greater sense of accomplishment.

God Bless this puzzle for being here for me today, to keep my mind otherwise occupied when things that I can’t do anything about are happening and I don’t want to wallow (which I would definitely be doing right now). Puzzles have always been a cozy, warm hug for me when I’ve needed it, and I need many hugs today. 🤗🤗