As well as reading a lot, I tend to have a jigsaw puzzle on the go most of the time too. I prefer to do bigger ones, 3,000 pieces are my favourite, but I'm not fussy, I'll do any size but rarely less than 1,000. Here are a few I've done this year, starting with my latest.
This one is called Tiles of Barcelona, it's 3,000 pieces and because there's so much repetition was fairly tricky to be honest. Very much worth all the effort though. Would love to go to Barcelona to see the actual tiles.
This 1,500 piece puzzle was lent to me by my daughter. It's one of the prettiest I've done in ages. Very 'Miss Marple'.
This one was 1,000 pieces, and a delight to do with all those lovely crafty bits and pieces.
And finally, another 1,000 piece one (perhaps I do a lot more of that size than I realised) is this Where's Wally? puzzle, given to me by a dear friend. Not easy, as I'm sure you'll have guessed, and a bit bonkers, but great fun to do.
I am reading but am in the middle of two books so it'll be a few days before I'm ready to do another book post. But I hope you're all well and enjoying your June reading? I've started the 20 Books of Summer challenge, read one book and my current two are for that as well. Fun, fun!
18 comments:
I really must get back into the routine of doing a 'real' jigsaw, rather than the online puzzles I seem to have become quite addicted to lately. I am hoping that with the 'retirement' of my blog on June 23rd, I shan't need my computer switched on so much, which should deter me from opening either Jigzone or Jigsaw Planet quite so often.
I have a cupboard full of jigsaws waiting to be done, most of which came from charity shops, although when I was motivated to look yesterday, after seeing your Tweet about 'Tiles Of Barcelona', I couldn't really get inspired about any of them! I do know however, that the likes of 'Where's Wally' and similar puzzles, are definitely not for me.
1,000 pieces is generally my ideal puzzle size, as that fits comfortably on the board I have, although I could technically go up to 1,500 pieces.
I hope that your next endeavour brings you as much satisfaction as the last :)
Hi Cath ,I have just finished reading 'Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce. I have it on loan from cousin Pam and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
Those are some great looking puzzles. I'm impressed you do such large ones! My go-to size is usually 1,000 pieces, I've done a few 1,500 and 2,000 ones. Would like to try something a bit larger one day, but I doubt they'll fit on my puzzle board! I still do 750 or 500's sometimes, but they go too quickly. The ones with lots of little "busy" details like Where's Waldo kinda drive me crazy!
I love that second one! My dad was the real puzzle-builder in my family; he could build anything, the harder the puzzle for him, the better. I enjoy smaller, easier puzzles myself.
You have such beautiful puzzles, Cath! I know what you mean about the 'Miss Marple' feeling from that second puzzle - it's lovely! Well, they're all beautiful, really. Puzzles are a nice break, aren't they? I like the sense of achievement you get from doing a puzzle, especially the ones with more pieces!
Yvonne: Well personally I think online jigsaws are fine. I used to do loads but then switched to physical ones when my daughter started getting a lot from a local library. But I still do online ones occasionally, Jigidi is my favourite site.
You know, I'm really going to miss your blog posts. Any chance you could maybe do a monthly post telling us what you're reading?
I love the sound of 'a cupboard full of jigsaws'! Charity shops are such a wonderful source for them.
Thank you... have a good weekend!
Hi Linda! Oddly enough I read Miss Benson's Beetle last year and agree with you that it's very enjoyable. So nice that Pam lent it to you, I think I got it from the library.
Jeane: Yes, the size of your puzzle board pretty much dictates the size of the puzzles you can do. The biggest mine will take is 3,000 pieces but I have several 4,000s. Still working on how I can do those. LOL!
Lark: I'm like your dad, I love the big difficult ones. I think I like something to get my teeth into. Each to his own. :-)
Thanks, Margot! I'm glad you can see the 'Miss Marple' atmosphere in that second puzzle, very nostalgic. Puzzles are very much a nice break and it's the only thing I do where I can lose all sense of time. Even when I'm reading I tend to have a sense of time passing but not when I'm doing a jigsaw puzzle.
The top one and the last one look very hard, but I agree that the second puzzle is the prettiest. I have nowhere to do that; we had a hard enough time figuring out a surface to play a board game about birds (Wingspan).
I did not know that there were sites for online jigsaw puzzles. I should check that out.
I think I might stick to my 1000 and 500 piece ones. There is something satisfying about them and they do help still my busy brain.
Tracy: Yes, those two were quite tricky but that's my favourite kind of puzzle. My favourite site for online puzzles is called Jigidi, they have a 'huge' choice of puzzles and you can even create your own. Be warned though... it's 'very' addictive!
Jo: Absolutely, I agree with you that doing puzzles helps still your brain. I over-think things endlessly and doing jigsaw puzzles calms me a lot.
I know it's a bit 'hit and miss' when you buy a puzzle from a charity shop, but I do tend to be quite selective about the overall look of the box quality first. I guess that is the same for the library lend jigsaws, do they actually take them off the catalogue if you tell them there are pieces missing when you return it?
I will take a look at Jigidi when I get a moment, although I am quite addicted to Jigsaw Planet, as I can change the number and shape of the pieces for each jigsaw, which mixes things up a bit, depending on how much of a challenge I want. If I need to log off and haven't finished by jigsaw for the day, it will also remember where I was with it the next time I log in and will give me the option to go back and complete.
As I pay an annual fee for the domain name 'Fiction Books' and another annual charge for the SSL certificate, I'm afraid the whole lot will have to go on June 23rd. I have thought about opening a free Blogger page, such as yours (I did have one back in the day, but have no idea how to access it again), but I can't decide about that, as I am scared that I am going to get sucked back in to the regularity of it, all over again.
Mind you, I have already been persuaded by one publisher to carry on with Blog Tours, linking to my Goodreads review page!!
For now, would it be okay when I stop by to visit, if I mention the titles of any new books I have read, and of course I can still keep in touch on Goodreads :)
Yvonne: Yes, I tend to be very selective about which puzzles I buy from charity shops too. I will buy most of those that are two or three thousand pieces but where one thousands are concerned I only buy those that really appeal. Library jigsaws tend not to be 'lending', not down here anyway. They just have a pile that you help yourself to and bring back when you've done it. The staff tend not to be interested in missing pieces.
Jigidi sounds very much like your Jigsaw Planet. I'll check it out at some stage anyway.
Ah, I didn't realise that you pay for a domain name, that makes all the difference. And I understand your concerns about being sucked back into blog tours. Goodness yes, I'll see you on my blog still I hope, also Twitter and Goodreads. I'm just having difficulty imagining your blog not being in my blog feed. It will seem very odd!
How fun! I like puzzles with pretty scenes on them. That "Where's Waldo?" one really does look crazy.
Susan: Yes, I'm the same, I like puzzles with pretty scenes. The Where's Wally? (Waldo) was mad but I loved it and am now doing another one!
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