What I’ve Been Doing

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!

Balloon World

Balloon World by Royce B. McClure – Wentworth – 40 pieces

Looking back through the blog I see that it’s been six years since I’ve completed a puzzle with an image by Royce B. McClure. Oh my! His artwork is always so colorful and imaginative, it’s no wonder there are so many puzzles with his images on them; they’re so fun to put together.

This isn’t an image I would normally choose in a larger piece count, but I enjoyed it on this mini puzzle very much. On a larger puzzle this might be quite a challenge!

I don’t remember any other Wentworth puzzle that I’ve done that had whimsies that were all the same like these; but it’s always nice when the figures they choose are perfect for the image.

My (ever dwindling) collection of mini puzzles are certainly helping me out with building up my queue again, they don’t take much time at all and when I’m in need of a puzzle to post it’s easy to put one of them together quickly.

Plus, they’re great quality puzzles that are always entertaining; perfect to make this puzzle geek’s heart go pitter patter. 💓

Balloon World In Progress…

Balloon World by Royce B. McClure – Wentworth – 40 pieces

If you couldn’t already tell from the title, you’d know by the whimsy pieces that this is an image of hot air balloons. It’s so bright and colorful, and although it isn’t going to take me long I’m very much looking forward to it.

Normally images of hot air balloons aren’t really my thing, I feel as though it’s overdone and have seen way too many; but for some reason this one speaks to me today and I think it’ll be fun. Here’s hoping.

I tried to go puzzle shopping at the bookstore yesterday, but there wasn’t really anything interesting in a smaller piece count (which was what I was looking for specifically). I didn’t buy anything at all! 🤯

Tea for Two

Tea for Two by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 176 pieces

How amazing is this puzzle? It wasn’t an easy one, but I enjoyed the challenge of working on three separate shaped puzzles simultaneously – and it being a gorgeous and colorful Aimee Stewart image didn’t hurt either. 💖

There have been a few shaped Wentworth puzzles with artwork by Aimee that I’ve done, and they make for entertaining but somewhat difficult assemblies. But the combination of a shaped wooden puzzle and her beautiful artwork make me VERY happy.

Tea time whimsies and beautiful flowers, couldn’t ask for more. But unlike most puzzles with whimsy pieces these shapes didn’t assist much in the assembly until you got several pieces together. Usually with the odd shapes you can tell which pieces go around them, but with so many curvy and wavy whimsies you couldn’t really use the shape to find the right surrounding pieces, you had to use the image. It’s part of why the puzzle was so challenging, and why this one was so much fun.

Gorgeous I tell ya, even from the back! I’m a bit sad this one is over and wish there were more shaped Wentworth puzzles here. There’s a 250 piece rectangular Wentworth on the to do “pile”, and the image is great; but I enjoyed the shaped Aimee Stewart puzzles so much and wish there were more here.

There is a gorgeous image of hers that I just found on their site and you won’t believe it – it’s a Christmas puzzle and I LOVE IT! It’s called Gingerbread Manor, check it out. Ain’t it something? I think with that image I would want it in 500 or 1000 pieces. I don’t usually get Wentworths that big, so I may have to start dropping hints about it for my birthday in October. 😎


*For some reason, sometimes my board photographs as if the fabric is orange. It is not, but that’s how it appears in the picture at the top of the page. The remaining two pictures are closer to the actual color of the fabric, but they aren’t the same color either. It has something to do with the angle I hold my phone when taking the picture and the lighting above the board; but that’s as close as I can come to giving an actual explanation.

Tea…In Progress…

Tea For Two by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 176 pieces

As you can see I haven’t actually started the assembly, but I have taken out the whimsies for this one and I’m very much looking forward to beginning. This is a shaped puzzle from Wentworth, but it is three separate shaped puzzles – the teapot and two cups.

Because tomorrow is Fat Tuesday and the day after that is Valentine’s Day, there are specific puzzles that I wanted to post on those days – so you’re getting an “in progress” puzzle today instead of tomorrow.

Hope you’re all having a great Monday, and that you’re working on a fun puzzle!