“It’s No Puzzle”

~ Elizabeth
The World of Jane Austen by Barry Falls

Every few years I seem to crave the time and patience required to put together a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. The one pictured above is my current project, a collage of various scenes from Jane Austen’s novels. Many characters people the scene and a guide to each is supplied in case there is any difficulty identifying anyone.

For the first time I am using a puzzle board covered with felt that can be propped at an angle making bending over less tiring. It also keeps the puzzle out of reach of the puppy who would be only too happy to devour one or more parts. Since she has become very stealthy I might not notice until the very end of the construction when I discovered a hole in the array.

I tend to work in little parts as you can see, and sometimes those need to be connected to other finished segments. I have found a serious drawback to the felt; it is impossible to easily slide sections together. However the tilt is easier on my back, so on balance the board is an improvement.

Putting together a jigsaw puzzle can’t be rushed. Careful attention to each piece means focus and calm. Periodically being drawn to assemble one lets me know that at any given time I must need both.

37 thoughts on ““It’s No Puzzle””

  3. I don’t know if this will work, but I have a suggestion you could try: put a piece of paper under the separate section when you start it, so when you’re ready, you can slide it to connect to another section. What do you think?

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  4. We have a puzzle of Mr Mole proposing to Thumbelina which I liked so much I sent off for the print to frame. We got it out every December. The first time we opened the box our puppy at the time got hold of a dropped piece and it ended up with toothmarks and a corner missing. After that first year, we always knew where that piece went and it was one of the early ones located on the puzzle. Sadly, the jigsaw was lost along with a drawer of stuff in one of my moves, but my niece found us a replacement from a summer fete stall. It doesn’t have that chewed piece though 😦

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  9. We always clear away a table in the winter for a 2,000 or 3,000 piece puzzle. It is come-and-go to connect the puzzle, usually with coffee in the morning. It may take the whole winter, but we love that ongoing puzzle.

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  11. I like your puzzle. I used to like jigsaw puzzles, but I can’t see well enough to work one now. There are other things I can still do, so I’m not going to fret over it.

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  13. Have you ever tried online puzzles, Elizabeth? Here’s one of my favorite sites: https://www.jigidi.com/. People create the puzzles and new ones come up all the time. It can be competitive or not, as the site records the ten fastest times. The puzzles come in varying amounts and subjects. Unlike traditional puzzles, there’s no question of whether pieces fit together. There’s this little satisfying sound when two pieces snap together. I’m hooked and it’s not hard on the back.

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  14. I gave all our remaining puzzles to another family during our various lockdowns thinking I’d buy some more. I did half heartedly try but never saw anything I liked but seeing yours is making me think it’s time to really go looking – again!
    Maybe have little cards about the size of postcards to put the scenes together then as someone above said you’ll be able to move the pieces to where they fit

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  15. I’ve never really had the patience for puzzles, though I do seem to be able to sit for hours and play computer games if I allowed myself to do that. Go figure. Oh, and I never realized puzzle pieces were good for eating. Learn something new every day. LOL

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