Finding Treasures

My daughter and I spent the morning yesterday going through just a small fraction of my mom’s things, and I came across a few puzzle treasures that I brought home. Of course they’re only treasures to me, but that’s alright, I will definitely enjoy putting them together.

The coolest one that I found was a 577 piece Ceaco Holiday Silhouette called Christmas Spirit by Susan Winget that has velvet-backed pieces; it has an irregular border and whimsy pieces too. It still looks in great condition, and I’ll be assembling it closer to the holidays.

There was also a 504 piece quiz jigsaw puzzle called “Who Said That?”. There are images of 240 people that you have to match with 240 famous quotes. Every quote fits every image, so you have to be sure of yourself when you match them. This is the kind of puzzle my mom and I liked to assemble together. We had the best time with others in the same vein, it was such fun to figure things out and talk over whether or not we had things matched up properly. It will be sad to do this one alone, but it will also remind me of how awesome it was that we had such a good relationship and had such fun together assembling puzzles.

In the same box of puzzles was a 1000 piece 3 foot long shaped puzzle by Spilsbury Puzzle Company called Caribbean Jewel – it’s a very bright, colorful fish-shaped puzzle. It still looks in excellent condition and I’m hoping all the pieces are there because it looks like great fun!

The one I’ll be assembling first is on octagonal Springbok called Button, Button…, I think it may have been my grama’s puzzle at one point, and I think I may have helped her put it together. It looks very familiar, and I can’t get over the feeling that I assisted either mom or gram assembling it. This time it’ll be just me though, I hope it isn’t too difficult to do by myself. 😉

Wasgij In Progress

In Progress

I’m currently working on a Wasgij puzzle, it’s going a little slowly but I’m still having a good time. You won’t get to see the finished image here on my blog (I don’t like spoilers), but you can see Momma Cabbage and her babies running around – aren’t they cute? I’m not sure yet if they’re chasing the mouse or if he’s leading the way, but I will get it figured out eventually.

I have a stack of about 20 Wasgij puzzles in my closet over four feet high, and I need to work on whittling it down (some of them have 2 puzzles in the box, one of the actual box image and the other is the Wasgij that has to be figured out). Because they’re in my closet I sometimes forget about them, but they were calling to me yesterday and I got this one going.

As usual I’m loving it, it’s so satisfying when I figure out where a section belongs and fit it into place. Every now and then I challenge myself by putting away the box and assembling a puzzle without the aid of an image, with a Wasgij I don’t need to add the extra challenge – it’s built right in.

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For this image you have to puzzle what the lady with the polka dot bow is seeing. All I know for sure is what the gentleman in the middle is wearing, so you’d think I would have started with his shirt – for some reason I haven’t even pulled those pieces yet. It may be the next section to be assembled though, we’ll have to wait and see. 🙂

Starting a New Puzzle…

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I’m starting a new puzzle today, a 550 piece collage called Massive Munchies. Sounds good, doesn’t it? For me these puzzles don’t usually make me hungry, so there isn’t much danger of me gaining weight from it – other than from spending too much time sitting at the puzzle table. 😉

What are you working on?

The Periodic Table of the Elements

Periodic Table
The Periodic Table of the Elements – Eurographics – 1000 pieces

I wish I had the right words to express how much I absolutely adored assembling this puzzle – it was so entertaining! It’s an older Eurographics puzzle, so it’s a random cut and it was absolutely the best puzzle I’ve assembled in a while!

Most of the newer Eurographics puzzles I’ve come across are not only grid cut, they only have the one piece shape. Ugh. Boring, boring, boring! This randomly cut puzzle was tricky in some places, but for the most part it was pretty easy – but not boring in the least. Can you tell I loved it?

I never took chemistry, so honestly this is the very first time I had a good look at the Periodic Table, and some of the element’s names were a surprise to me; Americum, Californium, Einsteinium, Europium, Neptunium…

Periodic Table 1

I was very interested in reading the names of all the elements, and it made me curious as to how or why things were named what they were. There was also a table at the bottom showing all the elements, the year they were discovered, and who discovered them. I found it so interesting!

Periodic Table 2

This puzzle was full of things I didn’t know. I’d never heard of Dimitri Mendeleev and had no idea he was the “inventor” of the periodic table. There’s an element named after him too – Mendelevium. I’m sure this isn’t new to many people, but it is to me; I found this entire puzzle not only entertaining, but fascinating as well.

This was one of the puzzles I found in the trunk of mom’s car, and it makes me think of her – she would have loved putting this one together. She knew the kind of puzzles I enjoy, and I’m certain she got this from the thrift store with me in mind. I wish she were here so that I could show her the finished image, tell her thank you, and tell her how much I miss puzzling with her. 💖

Almost There…

I’m down to two trays of pieces left on the 2000 piece puzzle, and I’m hoping to finish it today. Only a few hundred pieces to go. 🙂 It’s been so long since I’ve done such a large puzzle, I’m pretty proud of myself! Once it’s done I’d better get a move on and do some smaller puzzles to build my queue back up, I’ve only got four completed puzzles in there.

My youngest son came in the puzzle room yesterday and asked which puzzle I would do next after I finish the current one. He then proceeded to grab boxes one after the other and suggest that I do them next. “Nope”, “Not in the mood for that one”, “Too many pieces”, “I need a smaller one”, etc. He finally picked up one of my Wentworth micro puzzles and showed it to me, and I said “Good choice, I haven’t done that one yet.”

He almost never wants to help me with my puzzles, but it was sweet of him to try and help me pick out the next one. And it made him very happy when I decided to do one of the puzzles he’d suggested. Sometimes when I’m absorbed in a puzzle I don’t always take the time for simple things like letting him help me decide on the next puzzle to assemble; I’m trying to do better. 💝