Anyone like to chat about jigsaws?

[thefinaltwist]

I've only very recently started a jigsaw and so far I'm really enjoying it! I'm sick fed up of aimlessly scrolling on my phone every evening until bedtime. I feel like I'm wasting so much time! I'm a reader but a few chapters at a time is my limit before my mind starts to wonder or I find myself skim reading, even when I'm really enjoying the book this happens. Also in the evenings I used to cross stitch and I had started to learn how to crochet ( very basic level ) and all of this has fallen to the side in favour at staring at a screen.

So this year I've decided to make more of an effort to get back into these hobbies and thats when I decided to try jigsaws.

I got my first jigsaw from the charity shop last week for £1.50 ( love a bargain ) its a garden bird scene with a watering can, various flowers and some insects ( 1000 piece ) not sure if that was a bit adventurous 😂I'm around halfway and I have to admit I'm thoroughly enjoying the challenge! It's very satisfying watching it come together slowly.

I've got another charity shop find lined up to do next its a 500 piece old fashioned greengrocers.

So if anyone would like to chat please feel free 🙂

Love a jigsaw. Saw MIL doing one about 10 years ago and realised I'd never done one since about a 200 piece one as a child. Picked up one in Aldi the next weekend and I was hooked.

Don't have one on the go all the time, I alternate with crochet, but always have one lined up.

Bought this one August 2021. Did about two thirds and got so stuck I put it away in my jigsaw board for months. Finally finished over Christmas. Going to go slightly easier next time.

And I have my favourite one, an 18th century painting of the bit of London we used to live in, framed after I preserved it with puzzle glue.

I absolutely love doing jigsaws but am quite particular about what I choose - at the moment, I’m working my way through a number from this series: Laurence King publishing. I don’t like big stretches of the same colour, like sky, etc, so like a jigsaw with lots going on over the whole picture.

Im a Disney fan and got a lovely big jigsaw a couple of years ago which featured posters from the classic movies. It's currently framed above my desk 😁 I've been given another one this Christmas and you've inspired me to start it today!

I've done the World of Shakespeare one from that series, I did enjoy that. So many tiny details to keep finding.

I love puzzles! I'm currently working on a 1000 peice Harry Potter one, which I plan on framing afterwards to put in my study! : )

Someone bought me one for my birthday. My friend and I tried to do it but it felt like torture🙄I haven't got the patience. Might give it another go. I too am a reader but find myself aimlessly scrolling through my.fone too. 🙄

We always start a big one on New Years Day. We set it up on the dining table and everyone is free to sit for a few minutes or a few hours and add a bit. It's a great way to get teens away from their devices, into the communal space, and to share idle chit-chat with them without them realising. Every year they groan when the puzzle comes out, two nights later they're addicted.
Also a great way to get through this dark and depressing time of year.
We don't entertain during Jan and Feb so it's no hassle having the big table out of use.

Nearly finished this. Love a Disney puzzle and have a few of the panoramic ones.

Only issue is they are too wide for my designated puzzle board and I now dominate the dining table with it 😆

Love puzzles and am just getting back into them now I have more space (physically and mentally). Oh, and a puzzle board from The Works (20 quid, not bad).

I like to do them socially with the other puzzlers in my life- after dinner with the box of leftover Christmas chocolates or, if I don't want to sit scrolling my phone, while listening to a podcast.

The Peter Pauper ones are great. Currently doing "The Universe" but did "Precious Gems" with 4 generations of women in the family just before Christmas! It's like driving or walking and having a conversation...takes the pressure off as you are also focusing on something else...

www.peterpauper.com/collections/1000-piece-puzzles

I have done ilthem in the past but no room in this plac really

I like min 1000 piece ones and I like ravensburg* pieces

I don't like soft thing pieces they have to be a certain kind

*not sure if spelt correctly

Totally agree used to do lots of knitting and cross stich in the evenings but now scroll mindlessly on the phone for hours which i don't like and want to reduce (not a good role model for the kids too)
I like jigsaws but find they take up a lot of space, same as I do dressmaking but can only do it in one room and like a chunk of time ( and to be reasonably alert).
Have recently got into diamond painting, its relaxing but small and portable plus my kids also enjoy doing it and its simple enough for them to do without help unlike if they do sewing which ends up with me constantly helping them and not getting to do my projects.

I would love to start but I worry about storage of completed puzzles. I know some have said that they have framed some but for those who complete quite a few, what do you normally do with it on completion? Do you keep on a puzzle board or take apart again? I know the puzzle boards are good for putting away a jigsaw in progress but how about completed ones?

I love jigsaws and feel a bit odd if I don't have one on the go!

Over lockdown I discovered this company, Cloudberries, who do the most amazing jigsaws I have ever seen. I have a flagged search on eBay and now have nearly 30 of the designs, all bought second-hand. They are so interesting and intricate.

https://www.cloudberries.co.uk

Be warned: the Shells jigsaw is possibly the most evil creation known to man.

Others that I have found recently and highly approve of are:

elenaessex.com/shop/

And

eeboo.com/collections/puzzles

I just pull apart and keep the edges one bag, then the middle bit

I usually do the same ones more than once over time

I always do a Christmas one in December and get really engrossed in it.
I don’t tend to do them during the rest of the year but maybe I should!
I never save them-just leave them completed for a day or so and then break them up and send to charity shop

I love jigsaws. As @TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross I am also quite selective in what jigsaw I chose to devote my time to.

I highly recommend the discworld jigsaws for any terry pratchett discworld fans out there. I also love wentworth puzzles; expensive but a luxury I think is worth it (I have only two).

We are not mad jigsaw fiends but do a few each year, often during school holidays. We don’t keep them once they are done, just admire them for a day or two then back in their box. I have a couple of friends who like a jigsaw so sometimes we swap.

We always do a Christmas one but this year I'm going to try and do them throughout the year. I was doing a lot of puzzles on the floor until we got Ddog who ate the pieces as a pup. Dining table quite small so would love recommendations of storage for uncompleted puzzles. The felt things never seem to work for me.

Agree with pp it's a great way to challenge DC to come off device for a bit and sit and chat (no eye contact needed as looking at pieces)

I also never save them - break them up straightaway, back into the box, and start another.

If I'm not mad about it, it goes to the charity shop, but most I keep to do again another day.

I love these ones. I got the Christie for Christmas and it was an absolute joy, so detailed. I also loved the Shakespeare one but was heard muttering about half-timbered houses halfway through... super satisfying.

I got one of the proper mat/cases for Christmas and it's a game changer. It takes a 1000 piece puzzle and has two separate sorting mats - I've used it with two unfinished puzzles now and it's been great, no slippage or lost pieces.

would love recommendations of storage for uncompleted puzzles
I have a hard cover fold in half one that stays flat. I used to store it under the sofa if I was taking a break from one for a bit. Got it from Hobbycraft. It has a board for the puzzle that sits on top of the but where you can section out all the pieces when you want to put it away.

A Dsis in the US sent me this - I’d done a similar one at her house recently. I’ve never seen anything like them here - only 80 wooden pieces so quite quick, and doesn’t take up nearly so much room. I dare say they’re pricey but I do like them.

I have one kept and framed. All the others I've given away to my mum or to charity shop. I never redo one.

Boring 😏