Friday, February 12, 2010

Puzzling

When it looks like this outside ...... day after day after day ....... what do you do?

I like puzzles. Love of my life does not. In past years I would occasionally get the urge to assemble a puzzle. I would set it all up and spend hours happily fitting pieces together. It is a great activity for insomniacs and it goes well with Lifetime movies. If I happen upon a puzzle with a theme I really like I will mount the finished product and display it.

Just imagine the joy when I realized that my new best buddy, Deb, loved puzzles, too!!! Add to that all the Coca Cola puzzles we have found .......... I am singing "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!


Here you see a masterpiece in progress. It must stay that way until I return from my visit with the grandchildren. Deb and I won't be spending another weekend together until then. I admit that it is tempting to escape from my day and sit a spell while pondering colors and shapes ....... but, no, I won't do it.


This is Deb's side. We have different approaches to this activity. I have a method and rules, while Deb would sit pawing through the box looking for a piece that she might could use.



This is my side with the pieces lined in rows just like my Daddy taught me to do. There are rules! First you pull all the edge pieces out of the box, then carefully get all the pieces lined up neatly so that you can see them all. This involves some accessory boards to put all the pieces on. With these you can walk around the puzzle with the pieces in your hand like a tray while studying the colors and shapes needed. If it a difficult puzzle, then you separate these pieces into colors and shapes. First you construct the outer edges of the puzzle and then start filling it in. You never start the middle until the edge is done.
I am trying to teach her, but she is a rebel. She insists on doing it her way, although she has admitted that my way is beneficial and she likes having all the pieces face up and lined up neatly instead of jumbled in a box. And I have started a middle before the edges were done. She has yet to line up the pieces neatly, though. I am still working on that.



Here you see our first puzzle. It is mounted and ready to be framed and displayed in the store. We spent a whole weekend listening to the sounds of the sixties and singing along while putting the pieces together. Love of my life was at work while we played puzzle.

This one was fun! Lots of red. It is ready to mount and frame. I really like Coke ......... it's the real thing!
So, what are you doing while the snow is falling?






13 comments:

luksky said...

I am a puzzle lover also...I never knew there was another way besides your way to put a puzzle together!!! I do it the same way. Summer and I can spend hours putting puzzles together. It's very relaxing.

Cathy said...

Hello Kathy
Jigsaw Puzzles - I love them!!
I was taught a similar system as you - find the edges first and make the surround....then look for identifying pieces, faces, windows, flowers, colours etc, you can start chunks on the side and then move to the inner part.........oh yes pieces are best seen lined up in rows, photo side up.
I've seen grandchildren doing the same routine, well taught by their parents, courtesy of moi lol
Take care
Cathy

mamahasspoken said...

Growing up we did a lot of puzzles and we did the same thing you did when it comes to what to do first, second and so on. We don't do puzzles that much any more due to the space it takes up.
As for the cold snowy days and nights, we've been playing games like Uno, Apples to Apples, Boxers or Briefs, etc.

ellen abbott said...

Oh, I'm a big jig-saw puzzle fan. we used to do them down at the beach house when I was a kid. Now I have them here at the country house when the g'kids are here or have some long summer days with no work.

I always do the border first. then I pick an interior to start based on color or shape and paw through the box to find the pieces I want to work with. Eventually, all the pieces are out and face up though no in rows. they eventually get sorted by color or supposed area of the puzzle and then into shape...one outie and three innies, two outies and two innies, four innies,etc. My twin g'girls have gotten pretty good at puzzles and the youngest is coming along. Even the g'boy gets sucked in now and then.

houndstooth said...

I love doing puzzles! My sister and I were just talking about starting one at her house.

What I've been doing while the snow is piled up is reading tons of books on my new nook. That thing is the cat's pajamas!

SkippyMom said...

We have been watching movies, playing cards and baking/cooking for the past 8 days - and three more to go! Unless we get snow on Monday and then add a day!

We love puzzles - unfortunately no place to put one now. But we always start by pullling out the edge pieces, turn all the other pieces over [face up] but no rows. And we each pick a spot to work on. We have quite a few preserved.

Do love the coke puzzles - We are definitely a cocoa cola classic kind of family.

May have to find a place for a puzzle this weekend.

Masala Chica said...

i am actually working. have a deadline. playing with my kids. working out. relaxing - nothing too crazy when snowbound . . .

Nancy said...

Looks like fun. How nice that you have a buddy to "play" with. My husband loves puzzles and I usually set up a small table in the corner with a bright light each Christmas for his annual puzzle. These are very cool looking - I'll bet the coca-cola one wasn't easy.

Brian Miller said...

we used to d puzzles all the time. soething about having boys makes it not work out so well..lol. we got snow again last night and they were not even calling for it...crazy. we play play play...until we wear out the boys....lol.

The Good Cook said...

Puzzles! That brought back memories. My parents would keep a card table set up in the family room and anytime anyone wanted something to do you could "work a little puzzle"...

Did you get the pics of my littles? They LOVE, hear me, LOVE the sock monkeys!!

Jo said...

Oh, goodness, that looks like so much fun. I used to love doing jigsaw puzzles when I was younger, and I haven't done them for a while. That gives me an idea...!

You have snow where you are? Oh, gosh, we have tulips, daffodils, roses, and the tree leaves are in bud, all ready to burst into leaf. Please send some now our way. We could use it! :-)

Cheers,
Jo

SkippyMom said...

The girls love the monkeys - and guess what I got for Valentine's Day from Wallene? Yep, a puzzle!

Woohoo! I posted a pic' of the monkeys on my blog.

Whitney Lee said...

I love puzzles! I rarely get to do them because I don't have a spot. For the longest time I had cats (you cannot leave a puzzle in progress out when you've got a house full of felines) and now I have kids so I don't have the time.
I love to go to my sister in law's and do puzzles with her and her girls. It's very relaxing, and I love the instant gratification.
What you've done is fantastic; I love the Coke puzzles!