We all have weird things we do. One of my quirks is that I like to count pages when I read. I could never accurately describe what this is, so I have a 55 second video below to show you what I do:
That's a little weird, right!?
Doing puzzles allows me to indulge in my love of counting and sorting.
Before we go forward I have to mention that I simply could not be as organized as I am if it weren't for my Jigsort 1500! Paul got it for me for Christmas. He assures me he paid less than $100 for it and I hope he's not lying...
Here's my set up, the Jigsort on a little TV stand my Uncle Bob made.
The Jigsort!
It has extra panels, perfect for my sorting quirk!
Here is how I approach a 1000 piece puzzle.
First, I decide how many pieces I want to sort at a time. For a 1000 piece, it's usually 100. So I count out 100 pieces and flip them right side up. As I count them, I sort out the edge pieces and make a pile of those.
Then, I sort out all of the pieces left that aren't edge pieces. I'll make a pile of sky, a pile of horse and buggies, a pile of people, a pile of the house on the left, the house on the right, and so on. You get the idea? (Yes, I usually have a pile of random pieces that I don't know where they go!)
Then I count out 100 more pieces and do it all again!
Eventually my little puzzle towers get too tall and I have to spread them out on different sections of the Jigsort.
Once everything is sorted, I put together the edges. Usually that doesn't take me too long. Then I choose a pile of sorted puzzle pieces to put together first. For this puzzle I chose the little red store at the bottom left of the picture.
Then I keep choosing little sorted piles and slowly, everything gets connected.
I don't always work from bottom to top, and I didn't with this one. It just so happened that the different sections I chose first were all on the bottom half so it looks like I worked my way up.
Aaaaand... less than a minute after I am done with the puzzle, I put it back in the box.
Now that I showed you how I do a puzzle, here are some questions people often ask me about puzzles....
I will admit, many times I save the sky until the end.
Finished!
I feel like THE SHIT!
Aaaaand... less than a minute after I am done with the puzzle, I put it back in the box.
What's done is done.
1. How many puzzles do you have? Over 100.
2. Can I borrow one? YES!
3. What do you do with the puzzles when you're done? If I think I will do them again, I will save them. If I don't want them anymore, I will donate them or give them away.
4. Have you ever quit a puzzle? Yes, many times. If it is not fun, I won't do it. Sometimes I quit if I have like 100 pieces of sky left and it all looks the same. I'm outtie.
One time I was at the dining room table and sorting a Christmas Cookie puzzle. Paul walked by and commented, "Wow, that's looks hard." I looked at the puzzle and said, "You're right, I'm not doing it," and dumped everything in the box. Paul felt really bad because he thought he made me quit the puzzle. I told him he only saved me time as I was even having trouble with the edge pieces! I once quit a puzzle of the Grand Canyon. Can you imagine how hard that puzzle was!?
5. Where do you get your puzzles? Mostly thrift stores because you can get really good puzzles for $3 or less. Sometimes I'll do Dollar Tree (I only like the Puzzlebug 500 piece puzzles from there.) and if I'm splurging, I'll get one off Amazon.
6. What's your favorite type of puzzle to do? 500-1000 piece puzzles are my favorite, but sometimes I'm in the mood for a 300. Charles Wysocki is clearly my favorite kind of puzzle to do! I also like Jane Wooster Scott and Heronim.
7. How do you do puzzles with two cats!? Well, Jelly usually leaves my puzzles alone while I'm doing them. Christmas is the one who wants to mess with the pieces, so I keep a squirt bottle nearby. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get scratched by Chrissy while he was getting frisky near a puzzle!
You're on thin ice, Chrissy!
Do you see the irony?
Chrissy loves to lay on them once they're done.
As for storing it when I'm taking a break, that's really where the Jigsort 1500 helps me out because I can easily move the puzzle somewhere else or cover it with the panels.
One time Jelly did cause some major puzzle drama. A couple weeks ago, I had spent about 2 hours sorting a 1000 piece puzzle and 1 hour starting to put it together. I had my Jigsort set up just like the first picture in this blog post depicts. Jelly hopped up on the couch and stepped on some of my sorted pieces. I stood up to collect a couple pieces that fell on the floor. Well, the Jigsort must not have been centered on the little stand I put it on because 5 seconds after I stood up, it crashed to the floor...
THE WHOLE PUZZLE fell apart as well as several sorted stacks. Some of the pieces went under the couch where there is cat hair and dust.
Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, I told myself. You will NOT cry over a puzzle because there are people in the world who have REAL problems...
I didn't cry, just sadly put all the puzzle pieces back in the box. I'll do the puzzle again sometime, but I'm not ready yet. It still stings!
Do you like puzzles?
Did you actually just read a whole blog post about puzzles?
I can't believe I actually wrote this...
I can't believe I actually wrote this...
I read this whole darn thing because I love puzzles too, and always wondered about your set up! I can't keep an area clean long enough... every time I want to start a puzzle I know I'd have to clean the kitchen table and that usually kills my mood. Back when I had a tiny apartment I used a folding table. Maybe I should use that again, since it lives in the basement when not in use and thus it would always be ready for puzzling! I have a one year old pup now who would in no way leave me alone, so she adds a little drama to the mix.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever framed a puzzle before? An ex boyfriend and I did a 3,000 piece puzzle of the wonders of the world and I am not ashamed to admit I spent on a lot of money on a beautiful frame and it lives above my fireplace now.
YAY I'm glad you read the whole thing and as a fellow puzzler, found it interesting. :) It is hard to do puzzles when you don't have somewhere to keep it out of the way. Your folding table sounds like a good idea, or a big flat board you can move around or something.
DeleteI have never framed a puzzle. I know people do that from time to time but I never had the urge. These days, I really do break the puzzle down like 30 seconds after I complete it! I'll show it to Paul, or if he's not around, I'll take a picture to show him, then it's back in the box!
However, that 7 wonders of the world puzzle sounds AWESOME and would look great on a wall. The problem is, I think the puzzles I enjoy doing aren't pictures of things I would want hanging on my wall.
I may have told you this before, but my great aunt was really into puzzles so there for a while I had bought her these murder mystery puzzles. Actually I don't know if they were all murders but they were mysteries. I guess it came with some sort of story or synopsis and the closer you got to putting the puzzle together the closer you got to figuring out "who did it". I always thought you might like those.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, my aunt once let me borrow a puzzle that sounds very similar to the ones you are describing, but there was no picture for the puzzle, so it didn't interest me. That may not be how your aunt's were.
DeleteHey Megan, I found the puzzle interesting! I would love to solve one!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ruby! Amazon has a great selection but then again, so does Good Will!
DeleteI must say I found this post FASCINATING!!! I can’t remember the last time I did a puzzle. It must be years! I really never knew how people did these 1,000 piece puzzles. I’m def not as organized as you and had NO IDEA you had a system like this!!! This was honestly so interesting for me to read! Would I like to borrow one of your puzzles??! Hmmm maybe if you have a 50-100 piecer :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found this post interesting! :) Yes I developed a system that works for me over the past couple years. I know people that only sort the edge pieces and then spread everything else out and hunt around. I could never do that!
DeleteOmg there is no way Cecil would let me do a puzzle in peace. He would be sitting on the pieces immediately. He cannot stand it when he’s not the center of attention! I created this monster haha!
ReplyDeleteI’m not surprised that you have this system for puzzling. I always figured you took it seriously enough and did enough of them to have specific ways you do things!
You would have to get a squirt bottle! When I do a puzzle sometimes Jelly sits on my lap and likes to be pet while I puzzle.
DeleteI am glad my seriousness about puzzles is properly conveyed to my readers. :)
Wow, 100 puzzles? We have 1 puzzle in our house! We tried to put it together this past winter but didn't get very far because it was too similar. We needed more variation in the design! I didn't quite understand the puzzle sorter - those are trays to hold different stacks that you made? Like one tray will hold a few stacks and another tray will hold other stacks?
ReplyDeleteWell I think the sections are for whatever you want them to be. I use them for stacks and sorting but someone else could use it to put a section of a puzzle together and then slide it onto the big jigsort. Also, you can put them on TOP of the jigsort to shield your puzzle/pieces from animals! Click on the jigsort link!
DeleteThank you! I LOVE that you laid out how you do your puzzles. You've really gotten me back into puzzles again (although I still have to start a new one).
ReplyDeleteThe Charles Wysocki puzzles are really fun!
I'm in the middle of a puzzle now... still sorting it. It's Times Square but the colors aren't bright and it's not as "high def" as a Wysocki so it's taking me a little longer to get into.
Delete