My year kicked off with participating in the World Puzzle Days Challenge. Günther (who organises this giant effort) found me a sponsor so I was able to puzzle along.
Initially I thought I would commit to doing 3 x 1000 puzzles over the two months of the challenge, then committed to 6000 pieces total and managed to do 12 x 1000 pieces.
Every year a 'secret symbol' is selected that has to feature on all puzzles, at the start, mid-way and final pictures of assembled puzzles are also submitted. Sadly people cannot even build puzzles for a fun challenge, without cheating.... This year we had to feature a salt shaker.
And here is my line-up of puzzles!
Title - Bird Watchers
Brand - Cobble Hill
1000 Pieces
Such a lovely image. Not the easiest of puzzles and not the best choice when you are trying to assemble as many puzzles as possible, but I really wanted to do it again...so I did! This beauty was a gift from a friend a few years ago and this was my second time assembling it.
Followed by a free puzzle I was given by a local fellow puzzler
Brand - BigBen by MB
1000 Pieces
I really enjoyed doing this one and it was a quickie! Just take a look at the details of this hitching post!
Title - Camden's Independence Day Parade - my first Heronim, borrowed from a friend who collects Heronim puzzles
Brand - Mega Puzzles
1000 Pieces
Next I took on the challenge of a Thomas Kinkade puzzle I received for Christmas...
Title - Spirit of Christmas
Brand - Ceaco
1000 Pieces
Really pretty,but quite the stinker! It will prove to be a fun regular holiday challenger!
Next up - this was not as pretty as I had thought. I had traded it from a local puzzler...and promptly traded it again after finishing it. It is so nice to have a local trading group!
It was interesting to do though and very quick.
Title - Grandma's Attic
Brand - Ravensburger
1000 Pieces
Here's another colourful one - borrowed from another puzzler in our local group...It went much quicker than I expected and was a riot of colour in our grey January winter.
Title - Hummingbird Garden
Brand - Buffalo
1000 Pieces
I do enjoy pictures where I can tell by the individual pieces what they are a part of or where they belong. This is another of that type of puzzle and was really quick to do, which was just what I needed for a WPD challenge!
Title - McKenna's General Store
Brand - FX Schmid
1000 Pieces
Sometimes I needed to take a mid-way picture when the light was bad or at night...
Next up another favourite - a new puzzle and instant favourite of mine. I look forward to doing it again.
Title - Undersea Quilt Garden
Brand - Bits & Pieces
1000 Pieces
I think these old style illustrations are just beautiful! The puzzle wasn't difficult, just very enjoyable.
I had planned to do many more Cobble Hill puzzles, but then all these borrowed ones pushed in and I decided to do them first so I can return them to their owners. However I did have to add this fun traded one in here. I'm so pleased to have this in my collection. It's a little tricky to get going, but is a good nice challenge.
Title - Ice Cream
Brand - Cobble Hill
1000 Pieces
Yummy ice cream, yummy details, yummy puzzle pieces!
Another favourite puzzle style with me is Dowdle. I was given a couple of his puzzles some years ago and enjoyed them, so when a local puzzler offered me this one to build I grabbed the opportunity. Just sorry I could not trade it! It was a great build!
Title - Vancouver
Brand - Dowdle
1000 Pieces
All those delightful details!
Another borrowed puzzle - also from my friend who collects Heronim puzzles. These images were the quickest of all to do.
Title - Brown Derby
Brand - Mega Puzzles
1000 Pieces
And finally - another Heronim that I got locally from a fellow 'trader' and passed on to my friend to add to her collection. This was quite pretty and I enjoyed doing it!
Title - Checking in at the Grand Peacock
Brand - Sure-Lox
1000 Pieces
So will I be taking part in the World Puzzle Days Challenge again next year? I don't know. I enjoyed it, but I did miss doing some of the other things I like to do. Such as reading! Feeling like I need to do my part for the challenge meant that I put everything else on ice and only did jigsaws for two months.
But by next year I may be ready to jump in and play along again, provided there is a sponsor for me. I understand there needs to be payment to participate, but I'd rather buy a puzzle for the fee and puzzle at my own pace.
So the verdict will stay out until closer to sign-up time for WPD 2021!
And yes...I'm still puzzling...just finished a beautiful Cobble Hill last night. Post coming soon.
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