jigsaw puzzles

[monarch64]

Does anyone still do jigsaw puzzles? This evening I was remembering that one of my family''s winter traditions when the weather was yucky and there wasn''t much else to do (back in the day, before Nintendo and internet, ha ha) was putting together jigsaw puzzles. The preferred brand of puzzle in our household was Springbok, which my mother always purchased from the local Hallmark store, and we loved the 1500-2000 piece ones. We never preserved the finished puzzles, we always took them apart and put them back in the box when we were finished admiring the puzzle all put together. To this day my mother still brings those puzzles out for the holidays and puts them under her dining room tree as "props" (she loves visuals, maybe that''s why I ended up with a degree in merchandising, lol!) Anywho, upon reminiscing tonight, I found the Springbok website and I think I may be giving puzzles to my parents and my brother and SIL this year!

Anyone else remember this wintertime activity or still enjoy jigsaw puzzles? Did you have a favorite one, or did you preserve them once they were completely put together?

 

[monarch64]

Here''s a 2000 piece one called "Sweet Razzle Dazzle"...love the bright colors, and this could keep someone busy for weeks!

 

[monarch64]

Another 2000 piece for the money-lover...pretty cool way to see some of the currencies of the world!

 

[door knob solitaire]

Monnie...yes we too have spent many an hour putting them together. Never did the permanent thing either. I remember doing them by candlelight when the power was out. FOCUS!! Focus! Always back in the box when complete. We used to be really excited when we found the box didn''t contain all the pieces. Sort of finding a double yoke egg. Suppose that is were I get my optimistic attitude.

My mil and I were discussing them just last night. She told me something interesting. Well, I should say intriguing. She has a friend whose autistic child is actually 42 years old, but has only progressed to 8. He spends all his time with puzzles. The strange thing is...he can''t do them any other way, than upside down. I mean the image going away...so he does the tree tops as the bottom and the trunk or base of the tree as the top. I found that so interesting. She said he could build and recognize a piece faster than anyone...but only if he was building the image upside down. Oh, he doesn''t know it is upside down. He sees it rightside up. Wow, huh?

Have you seen those puzzle mats? They are like Velcro. You can roll up the entire mess at any stage of build and it remains just as you left it. We used a firm piece of particle board that took two adult people to slide under the bed until you could finish it. That mat thing would be a great thing to accompany your puzzle gift. I recommended it to my MIL. She is thrilled she can give it to encourage (toms) passion. §

 

[monarch64]

This one has *only* 1500 pieces...my mom loved Coca-Cola themed puzzles and she doesn''t have this one, so I think I''ll get it for her for Christmas.

 

[door knob solitaire]

Oh razzle dazzle looks just like my grandmothers old candy dish. Ribbon candy! We lived in Houston TX and with the humidity the candy all stuck together. So when you lifted one piece out...it all came out in one lump. Here is the secret part...I used to lick the whole clump and then put it back.

Man that was fun. The flavors were all melded together and thanks to my addition remained that way. Shhhhh don''t tell anyone. Thanks for posting that puzzle image. It brought back some fond memories, and even a taste or two!! §

 

[monarch64]

Hi DKS! Fancy meeting you here this time of night, LOL! That''s so interesting about your friend''s son. So, you mean he can put together the puzzle with all the pieces facing down? Does that mean he is able to put them together without matching anything but how the pieces fit together (so he''s not matching colors, just shapes?) Wow, if that''s the case I''m astounded, that is really really amazing.

I have seen those Velcro mats. If I give my brother and SIL a puzzle this year I think I will include a mat for them. They have a smallish house and 11 cats, plus they are expecting their first baby this February so if they get around to starting the puzzle at all I bet they will need to move it while it''s in progress! My parents, OTOH, have a huge house with plenty of table space they never even use, and no pets, so the wouldn''t need one. (sorry, useless info but I''m just thinking "out loud," lol!)

We never did have a puzzle with missing pieces, oddly enough. And neither my brother nor I were perverse enough to hide any pieces, it would''ve driven us all insane if we hadn''t been able to put that last piece in place.

Do you have a favorite puzzle? I think when I was growing up I liked my mother''s coca cola ones, and my personal favorite was a 1500 piece Victorian Doll one, it was all pinks and frills and it was so pretty! Also the Crayola crayon one, although I remember it taking forever and a day to put together.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 12/14/2007 2:21:50 AM
Author: door knob solitaire
Oh razzle dazzle looks just like my grandmothers old candy dish. Ribbon candy! We lived in Houston TX and with the humidity the candy all stuck together. So when you lifted one piece out...it all came out in one lump. Here is the secret part...I used to lick the whole clump and then put it back.

Man that was fun. The flavors were all melded together and thanks to my addition remained that way. Shhhhh don't tell anyone. Thanks for posting that puzzle image. It brought back some fond memories, and even a taste or two!! §

So I'm guessing your family never made Divinity (the candy) around the holidays? It's that nougat-y stuff, white, sometimes with chopped nuts. It definitely requires a very dry atmosphere...one year my dad and I tried to make it and it came out looking like shiny white pancakes on the waxed paper on which we dropped it. Yummy stuff when it turns out, though, hence the name "divinity."

ETA: I won't tell anyone that you used to lick the ribbon candy and then put it back in the dish. ROFL! I used to lick the ketchup bottles in my family's restaurant and my mom would have to take the whole bottle of Heinz home with us. I think we had about 12 bottles of ketchup in the fridge at one point. I was terrible. (I thought I was keeping the lid clean!)

 

[door knob solitaire]

How do you handle the ketchup bottle now as an adult?

I know my weakness and keep my distance from all candy dishes.

The son puts the puzzle together image facing up. I knew someone was too bright to interpret my words. The image is face up...he just can''t sit in front of the image as...well lets say the image of a tree would have to be tree top as the bottom where he is sitting. The tree trunk/ground would be the top of the puzzle to him. He gets totally confused if he is sitting in the correct view position. For example...while playing scrabble you may have to turn the board to read the game pieces if you are sitting at the top of the board. Not him while building a puzzle. (that was hard to describe without the use of my hands...did you get it?) My hands are still waiving around...I just realized you can''t see them...you can''t right?? ha ha.

As a child I had to sit before the puzzle and see the image correctly. Of course my brother could sit anywhere! Argghhh.

I don''t remember doing any brand name puzzles. I am sure the 5 and dime store didn''t offer the designer puzzles such as you are used to.

You are more blue blood than my clan. I think we did landscape and old barns...mountain ranges...nature not industry.

Ok monnie, do you know about the 3 d puzzles? They are really a challenge. You have to go up too! Lots of cool architectures and items really come to life. That is another idea for you!!

Thanks for keeping my candy lick a secret. I would hate for the others here to think a clod of me. Just between you and I. Great! §

 

[movie zombie]

i buy one or two for my mother every year for xmas....and so does my brother. mom puts them together and has had some of them framed to hang on the wall.

movie zombie

 

[monarch64]

DKS--Ha! As an adult I am very thankful that Heinz now makes those plastic bottles that sit in your fridge cap-end-down and you just squeeze the bottle, and magically upon releasing the squeeze motion the formerly drippy portion gets sucked right back up into the bottle. With the "old-fashioned" glass bottles with metal screw-on lids, you had to wait forever for the ketchup to burp itself and come out, and then there would be the leftover teaspoon of ketchup that, when you righted the bottle, would sort of drip over onto the lip of the bottle. As a 4 or 5 yr. old, I wanted to make sure none of the leftover ketchup got inside the lid when I put it back on, so I would try to inconspicuously clean that off with my tongue. Mom caught me doing it every time, so then she would tell the waitress (much to my embarrassment) what I had done and that we'd have to take that bottle home. Yeah. We didn't ever eat out when I was growing up, the nights we dined at my dad's restaurant were treats for my brother and I and a chance to see our daddy... I still hate the dried up, crusty residue left on ketchup or mustard lids even with the plastic bottles. But now I wipe it off with a paper towel each time I use them, no tongue/saliva involved, I swear!

Wait, wasn't this thread about jigsaw puzzles? LOL!

I understand now exactly what you are describing regarding how your friend's son puts puzzles together. For some reason I first thought that he had to have all the pieces themselves face down, but now I "get it" that he doesn't look at the picture on the box right-side-up as a visual tool. Gotcha! I'm like you, I need the upright version of the visual (whether it be a puzzle box or Scrabble or the Monopoly board) to be sure of what I'm doing.

I certainly wouldn't say I had a "blue blood" puzzle upbringing...my mother just really liked the quality of the Springbok puzzles and we had a couple Hallmark or other gift stores in our little town. The puzzles from Woolworth's (yes, I'm actually old enough to remember that there was indeed a 5 and dime store when I was little) always annoyed her because they had frayed or uncut edges, or there were only a few hundred pieces as opposed to 1500-2000. But you'd have to know my mother--she's not a snob--she's an avid patron of her local library and they don't impose the usual 10-book borrowing limit on her after 30 years of her borrowing 20+ each week (and she'd borrow more if she could carry them all in her bookbag). I think she could get through three or four novels a night and give you a full report on each of them, plus a detailed analysis of each character. Yup, she's a little extreme. And I say that very respectfully.

I do know about the 3D puzzles, thanks for mentioning those. I have never tried one, and frankly the thought of them scares me. I don't know why...maybe I'm just stuck in my ways and not too adventuresome as far as puzzles go. Do you like them? The only ones I've seen look huge and just...daunting. I'm thinking of the architectural ones you described. Are there smallish, "starter" types, maybe? Like a guest house, or a cottage? Maybe a birdhouse? LOL!

 

[monarch64]

Date: 12/14/2007 3:01:10 AM
Author: movie zombie
i buy one or two for my mother every year for xmas....and so does my brother. mom puts them together and has had some of them framed to hang on the wall.

movie zombie

Details, MZ, details, please! Does your mother like a particular theme, or a specific brand of puzzle? Did you work on puzzles as a family when you were growing up?

 

[Fly Girl]

We do jigsaw puzzles during the holidays. We put up a card table in the living room and you can work for a while, or anyone who walks by can add a piece of two. Generally get a couple of puzzles done. My mother-in-law is a big jigsaw puzzle fan as well. I worked on one with her last Sunday. Helped her sort the pieces by color, then I had to leave. I try to buy a new puzzle every year, but I have lots of old favorites that I put together as well. My favorite scenes are landscapes, often of places that we have been on vacation. We leave the finished puzzle together to admire for a couple of days, but then it goes back into the box for next time. Great family activity!

 

[Selkie]

Ooh, I love them! In fact I''ve been bringing them to work and setting them up in the lunch room so anyone can partake. We''ve got a particularly evil one going now, it''s a Photomosaic. They are fun, because the big picture is made up of literally thousands of smaller photos, if that makes sense? We''re working on Van Gogh''s Starry Night now. I''m lucky if I can fit one or two pieces a day.

 

[sumbride]

Date: 12/14/2007 2:27:15 PM
Author: Selkie
Ooh, I love them! In fact I''ve been bringing them to work and setting them up in the lunch room so anyone can partake. We''ve got a particularly evil one going now, it''s a Photomosaic. They are fun, because the big picture is made up of literally thousands of smaller photos, if that makes sense? We''re working on Van Gogh''s Starry Night now. I''m lucky if I can fit one or two pieces a day.

I had that one but gave up after a couple of MONTHS!!! Good luck Selkie!

I love jigsaw puzzles too but don''t get to do them very often because my cats are a little too fond of them. I suppose one of those mats would help the problem of having the pieces swiped and eaten!

 

[somethingshiny]

Boy, did we!

We did so many puzzles when I was growing up, my dad made a wooden "cover" for our dining room table. (to cover and protect the precious puzzle). We had to put the cover on before we could eat supper, and then off it would go again.

We did 5000 piece puzzles regularly. We had our dining table which sat 8, and a card table set up at the end. We shouted "scoodle-oodle-oooh!" when we found the correct piece. But, if it was an incorrect piece, you had to put it back EXACTLY where you found it. Or there would be heck to pay!

The biggest one we ever attempted was a 10,000 piece 3D puzzle. We didn''t finish it...And, when my parents'' house burned down, the puzzle went with it...*darn*

We got a bunch of our puzzles from garage sales, and it was always a game to see if you even had the correct number of pieces, let alone the corresponding pieces.

Thanks for bringing back these memories!!

 

[HappyAnniversary]

We used to do puzzles every Christmas--It kept the crowd busy and under controll (we had 6 kids in the family). My husband liked them and I bought 5 at a sale--then he changed to another hobby and I still have them unopened in my closet--Thanks for reminding me!!! I think I''ll give one (or all) to my Mom when we come to visit--when you are at someone else''s house there is often not much to do, so it helps pass the time doing something together.

DKS--Have you thought maybe it wasn''t the Houston humidity that stuck those candies together? Maybe your whole family was licking those babies--you just didn''t get to them first

My grandmother always had the weirdest candies in trays and all through the visit she''d push them on us. Since I was young and didn''t like them (and I''m a suger nut) they must have been really bad. Now, looking back I see she was just so trying to please us and make the visit nice--I hope I was nice to her!

 

[movie zombie]

Date: 12/14/2007 3:18:05 AM
Author: monarch64

Date: 12/14/2007 3:01:10 AM
Author: movie zombie
i buy one or two for my mother every year for xmas....and so does my brother. mom puts them together and has had some of them framed to hang on the wall.

movie zombie

Details, MZ, details, please! Does your mother like a particular theme, or a specific brand of puzzle? Did you work on puzzles as a family when you were growing up?

well, my mother is 83 and she''s partial to old fashioned themes, such as old kitchens, old bathtubs, old coke advertisements, i think you get the idea. but then she also likes ones with pretty scenic views.

i don''t recall doing them at home until i was almost out of high school: i think that''s really when my mother started doing them and i just sort of assisted.

i try to buy ones with good color and with 1500-2500 pieces for her.

movie zombie

 

[Munchkin]

I love them!

My mum and I were the only family members who had the patience to put them together. My mum still gives me a puzzle every Christmas. My DH enjoys them as much as I do.

My favorites are the ones in which you read a mystery, put the puzzle together and solve the mystery form the images in the completed puzzle. Those aren''t super easy to find, though.

 

[Sparkster]

I love doing jigsaws. I'm the only one in my family who does. I prefer ones with 1,500 to 2,000 pieces and non photographics ones - I like paintings instead. I discovered jigsaw mats about a year ago. They are fantastic - I just roll the puzzle up, put it away and just unroll it when I feel like doing it again.

And once I'm done, they go back in the box.

 

[Skippy123]

Monnie, I felt like I was working on a jigsaw puzzle today trying to get a box filled and packed so I could mail it. Everything didn't fit a first but then I rearranged the pieces, since I did not have a bigger box around but I finally made it work. hehee

My cousins use to have the puzzles all going and it was like 10k pieces or something crazy like that; I have no patience but it was cool to see it all come together!

 

[Selkie]

Date: 12/14/2007 2:46:10 PM
Author: sumbride

Date: 12/14/2007 2:27:15 PM

Author: Selkie

Ooh, I love them! In fact I''ve been bringing them to work and setting them up in the lunch room so anyone can partake. We''ve got a particularly evil one going now, it''s a Photomosaic. They are fun, because the big picture is made up of literally thousands of smaller photos, if that makes sense? We''re working on Van Gogh''s Starry Night now. I''m lucky if I can fit one or two pieces a day.

I had that one but gave up after a couple of MONTHS!!! Good luck Selkie!

I love jigsaw puzzles too but don''t get to do them very often because my cats are a little too fond of them. I suppose one of those mats would help the problem of having the pieces swiped and eaten!

Oooh, I don''t suppose you still have the solution poster that comes in the box with the enlarged photo, do you?? Mine came with the poster, but it was for a different puzzle!

 

[sumbride]

Date: 12/17/2007 7:04:09 PM
Author: Selkie

Date: 12/14/2007 2:46:10 PM
Author: sumbride

Date: 12/14/2007 2:27:15 PM

Author: Selkie

Ooh, I love them! In fact I''ve been bringing them to work and setting them up in the lunch room so anyone can partake. We''ve got a particularly evil one going now, it''s a Photomosaic. They are fun, because the big picture is made up of literally thousands of smaller photos, if that makes sense? We''re working on Van Gogh''s Starry Night now. I''m lucky if I can fit one or two pieces a day.

I had that one but gave up after a couple of MONTHS!!! Good luck Selkie!

I love jigsaw puzzles too but don''t get to do them very often because my cats are a little too fond of them. I suppose one of those mats would help the problem of having the pieces swiped and eaten!

Oooh, I don''t suppose you still have the solution poster that comes in the box with the enlarged photo, do you?? Mine came with the poster, but it was for a different puzzle!

Sorry, I gave it to my MIL and then she gave up and donated it to some group. Maybe contact them and see if they can send you the right one?

 

[strmrdr]

someday im going too have some of these done up:
http://www.mpix.com/productsinfo.aspx?prod=22

These are kewl
http://www.shutterfly.com/shop/product_c10072-p2020/More_Gifts_Puzzles

 

[movie zombie]

bought a really pretty one today for my mother: its an old burpee seed poster for old time tomatoes!

buffalo games [buffalogames.com]
a gardener''s puzzle -1026 pieces
finishes at 27x20 inches
Burpee tomato hall of fame

andit comes with a free package of seeds for sunflowers......

movie zombie

 

[monarch64]

Storm those are way KEWL!

MZ: here''s a pic of your Burpee puzzle, it''s so pretty, your mom will love it! (hope I have the right one!)

 

[monarch64]

Or is it this one? Bonus that they include seeds!

 

[Fancy605]

Oh gosh, both my family and my husband''s family LOVE puzzles. On family trips to the beach, we probably put together 4 or 5 in just a week with so many puzzle pros around.

My family is super systematic about puzzles. As soon as we were old enough to work on them, we were taught to start with the perimeter, then turn all of the pieces in the box right side up and start sorting them. Then we are supposed to work on sections. (My ADD kicks in a little too much for that though). They get crazy over them. I have one aunt who uses baking pans to sort the pieces, which I think is pretty funny. I have relatives who have names for certain shapes of pieces. They''ll say things like, "Hand me a ''tiara'' with a pink tip if you see one." It is pretty silly, but pretty fun.

I do enjoy putting them together with family though. It''s sort of a fun thing to do while we socialize with one another.

 

[movie zombie]

Monarch, you are so computer savvy! its the 2nd one. i actually like it a lot myself.

movie zombie

 

[Fly Girl]

Date: 12/18/2007 11:40:13 PM
Author: movie zombie
Monarch, you are so computer savvy! its the 2nd one. i actually like it a lot myself.

movie zombie

Oh, that tomato seed one is a great puzzle design. My MIL would love it. She likes designs with distinctly different sections by color, instead of the colors all mixed together. Monarch, your avatar would drive her bananas!