Romeo&Juliet

It's been almost 12 months since I did my last jigsaw puzzle. Since that it has been just an intention because of many practical things. Last year I received this 252 piece two sided Romeo&Juliet jigsaw puzzle as a gift from YougLady. It has all I love: words, art, books, stories, puzzles...

It is manufactured by Professor Puzzle. The quality is good and the idea great! It is not so big so it fits well in smaller places too. A great gift idea!

GoingToAustralia

I am going to Australia in my dreams! Since Poor-Pii had her surgery in 27.6.2025 I have been looking after her day and night. I did have 2 nights when I was able to have a proper sleep in my own bedroom. Looking after Pii means that in practical I can't do anything but stay with her in downstairs and fenced terrace deck. She's a super hero what comes to getting rid off her post surgery plastic collar. As long as she knows I am watching her she doesn't try anything. But when she thinks I am not around....

That's why we arranged some space for me on our kitchen table that I can do this Map Of Australia puzzle when I am not writing my book, plant dyeing or doing other craft while looking after Pii. This is a gift from my Australian friend and I have been waiting this summer holiday to arrive to be able to do this jigsaw puzzle.

This is actually my 3rd jigsaw puzzle for this year. I do enjoyed a lot of making this because I love jigsaw puzzles, I love maps and I love geography!

The package included a big map of Australia. The puzzle is already taken down to pieces but I didn't put the map back into the box. I will use hours to investigate Australia map with my magnifier. I do know many things about Australia but now I realized I actually don't. I knew it is a huge continent but while doing this educative jigsaw puzzle I really realized how big it is with the distances!

Blinky Bill

This 1000 piece Blinky Bill jigsaw puzzle is the 1st one I've completed on my own this year. Earlier this month I helped YoungLady with her Moomin jigsaw puzzle. I do have several jigsaw puzzles waiting. I chose this one to start with because it is easy and fun to start the year. It didn't need my full attention all the time and I had several phone calls while making it!

ImpossibleMoomin

The 1st but hope not the last jigsaw puzzle of 2025 was this Clementoni's Moomin Impossible jigsaw puzzle. YoungLady received it from MrW as a Christmas gift. 

Making jigsaw puzzles can be also a very social actin. That's why we all, even Him, participated on this Moomin adventure. Remember we visited The Moomin World in July 2024.

RelaxedMind

My Northern Lights puzzle is finally finished. Before it was completely done I had to face the most difficult part which was the top edge sky. The sorting out puzzle boxes were really helpful in the process.

Finally I managed to do it. It is a beautiful winter scene from Lapland, Finland. I had a great time making it.

I don't know which one brings more satisfaction and pleasure: making a jigsaw puzzle or breaking it back to thousands of pieces. It is a proof of it that I was able to steal some me-time for absolutely non-productivity oriented busy work and world. Absolutely good for ones mental health! 

Northern Lights Puzzle

On Christmas 2022 dear Mr.W gave this for me as a Christmas gift. For a year I have been waiting a spare moment to spend some time with it. Of course it is a beautiful landscape from Lapland, Finland but it has a special meaning to me:

Northern Lights play a special role in my Sámi culture heritage. Actually, Northern Lights are literally called "fires of fox", not "lights of north". In my culture the Northern Lights are born when a fox runs over or by a fell in a winter time when the ground is snowy and frost hard. When the fox runs on, its tail hits the snow cover every now and then. That moment, when the fox tail hits the frozen snow cover, the action rises up sparkles into the air. The sparkles form out the burning fire in the sky. That fire is called "revontulet" (= fires of the fox). The fox lights up the fire because it is getting cold. It is also a sign to us humans, to warn about the decreasing temperature.

I have never done this series puzzle. First I was sure the pieces are made of too weak cardboard. Very soon I noticed that despite the used cardboard material is thin it is very thick and firm. If you are vising Finland and love puzzles, this is a great option for you to bring home as souvenir!

Notice, for the first time I am testing out a puzzle mat I received on Christmas 2022. I will tell you later what I like about it.

BackInPuzzles

I would have claimed that in 2023 I had no time to make any jigsaw puzzle but I was wrong. Indeed I did; two exactly. I just checked it out. No wonder it feels so distant because last one I did in February 2023, almost a year back! Anyway, I'm back in puzzles and this is the 1st one. It is YWOW's wooden puzzle. It is smart cut like the turtle I made in January 2023. Nice little warm up for coming puzzle year 2024. I actually made this to make my nerves to rest from a project about which you will be able to read soon...

Christmas Village

I just finished Czes Pachela`s Christmas Village. It is included in King's Christmas Collection 2 x 1000 puzzle pack. 

These puzzle storage boxes were again really practical and extremely helpful. This is only the 2nd time I used them and am so satisfied.

Sometimes making jigsaw puzzles can be very challenging and you feel need to have a hammer to get it all to fit in. With the patience and playful mind it always will be solved out without a hammer. Then you can enjoy about the result for a moment!

MyTime

One of my dearest hobbies is making jigsaw puzzles. It has been almost two years since I had time for puzzles for the last time.

I received this turtle puzzle as a gift from my dear friend far too many months ago. It has been waiting in its bag on my desk since that. I started January 2023 with this.

I love the smart cut pieces of it. Finding the right piece is always a pleasure. When you realize it has a very special shape it brings extra joy!

In January I started -and was able to complete- another jigsaw puzzle. This one has 1000 pieces. There are several things that enchants me in making jigsaw puzzles. 

The first charming thing in jigsaw puzzles are the details. They say the devil lives in the details. But I love the details. At museum you would never investigate a piece of art as long as you spent with it when making a puzzle that represents it. You find all the wonderful details you would miss when just walking by or admiring it for a moment.

The second charming thing is mindfulness. I always make puzzles in silent. My mind just rests in it. It makes so good on my mental health. It is like mindfulness and meditation.

The third charming reason is to make something absolutely vain, unnecessary and useless. In this world we must always be so damn productive and efficient. It feels so good to take the finished jigsaw puzzle back to 1000 pieces and just wipe away the hours you spent on it. It is like a secret of lazy unproductive moments you sneaked to do and could not care less. Of  course it makes good to your mind, heart and soul in this busy busy world.

This Polish Trefl's puzzle is good quality. It is Winter Landscape by Dominic Davison. The sky is always a bit challenging but still very satisfying. 

I already picked up another jigsaw puzzle to work with. I started this set of two with YoungLady in spring 2021. The pack includes Czes Pachela`s Christmas Village and Macneil's Ice Skating on The Pond.

We just started Christmas Village but had to stop quite soon. It has been in the box like this since that. Now I will finish it.

At the end, the true reason for me making jigsaw puzzles is to make TheCat sit on them! Every now and then we have a strict conversations about it can She do so or not. The best ever solution for the cat tail wipe problems, playful paws and fast & sudden runs over it all is the storage box set Santa Claus brought me on Yule 2022! It is so easy to work with the puzzle (and TheCat) now when I have these puzzle boxes! I used to use all kind of kitchenware plastic boxes but these are absolutely the most practical ones!

Pieces

I have found time to finish one puzzle for this year. Why I like doing jigsaw puzzles? Well, of course it provides you something to do. It is a budget hobby and you can find jigsaw puzzles also second hand. I like it because I consider it quite meditative. I like it also because it provides me an opportunity to do something totally unproductive. After finishing it I love to break it back to tiny pieces and put into a box. I enjoy that moment as much as finishing the picture! It really relaxes and pampers my extremely productive mind. Sometimes I just love be without creating anything that stays.

This is King's Christmas Collection 2 x 1000 puzzle pack. It includes Czes Pachela`s Christmas Village and the one I finished: Macneil's Ice Skating on The Pond. I love skating but unfortunately didn't manage to skate at all this winter.

Also YoungLady managed to finish a puzzle. It is Anatolian's 1000 puzzle. The original illustration Window Cats by David Maclean. This is a very good quality puzzle.

HolidaySeasonPuzzling

 

I love geography and maps. This Ravensburger Puzzle was absolutely fabulous to do. Despite I am pretty good in geography this challenged me because of the seas! This puzzle names more than the biggest seas and oceans! Wow!

My GodSon told me I've been the most kindest adult of all on 2020 because Santa brought me so many gifts. That is possible true if we count all the pieces of 5 different 1 000 piece jigsaw puzzles! This pic shows 1 000 of my Christmas gifts. Each of them belong together and forms out Trefl's puzzle which original illustration Christmas at Town Square is made by Chuck Pinson. 

BackInPuzzling

YoungLady spent the summer and early autumn studying for her first part of high school graduation exams. Right after the exams she gave a good big proper sigh and grab on a puzzle. She kindly allowed me to assist her.

We finished also another puzzle together. I had not much time to spend with these puzzles but really loved those few cherished moments we spent together with these.

Smart Cut

After The Tiger we have made the rest two of the set of three puzzles. The quality of this puzzle set is not so good at all but the pics are beautiful.

Despite a bit lower quality these puzzles can be made few times but for sure -during the time- the pieces won't look so tidy and whole.

I fell in love with this puzzle. There are everything I love: books, gardens, bikes, words...

...and these smart cut puzzle pieces stole my heart. I have never ever before made a smart cut puzzle but I must say this is The Thing.

Tigers and stamps

After the penguin episode we needed something easy to do. That's why we chose this cute little 500 piece puzzle from a set of 3 puzzles we had bought from a supermarket.

I must confess I was totally positive surprised when we went to the supermarket to buy a puzzle and wellingtons for YoungLady. She had to come with me because I could not cut her legs off to test the boots. So, she was allowed to pick up a puzzle too. And what a surprise it was that right on that very moment a saleswoman was unpacking the delivery of puzzles and with the boring scene puzzles some extraordinary popped out too. W O W ! ! !

We were so happy and cheerful about this cute little puzzle. As you can guess, this was finished quite fast. After this we started the one He had bought us to brighten up my and YoungLady's home school and home office days.

I love letters and stamps. This 1000 piece puzzle was such a charming joy to both of us. It was also very educative and we learnt quite many old stamps of Finland.

We loved to do it but already from the begin we had a weird feeling. We always start with the edges but could not find each part for the edges. We seek and seek but no, the pieces were not in the box. Instead we found one very small and weird piece from the box. At the end we turn the house upside down, seek them under the fridge and oven... from every possible place. I have never ever lost a piece from a puzzle. Simply never. When he had checked out the house too we had to believe it, these 2 pieces must not have been in the box.

I contacted the company and told what had happen. I also send the pics from the puzzle. Believe or not but they sent us the two pieces we were missing out! It is extremely rare a puzzle misses a piece (if you have bought it new). I learnt that if any part is missing it is from the edge. It is because of the process of manufacturing the puzzles. It is so rare that we have never faced this despite making the puzzles over twenty years! I should try out lottery for the next!

Puzzling

COVID-19 has at least one good influence: people have found puzzles again. Making puzzles is cheap hobby you can do at home. You can swap puzzles with your friends by leaving the puzzle behind the doorstep. 

Puzzles are perfect for family time sessions. They also create mindfulness moments. Both are good for the mental health and well being, at crisis time especially.

At the moment we are using old school desk board as a base to make the puzzle. It is easy to carry from a room, floor or table to another. PuzzleMat is more practical if you can't let the big puzzle hang around all the time or don't have much room to have it around. I have made PuzzleMat-tutorial so you can easily make your own. It is low budget and beginner level to do. 

Puzzles has been our family hobby for a long time. I have loved puzzles since I was a tiny toddler. I did it at my teens too. My kids have inherit that love into puzzles. When the oldest started the high school it was time to leave the puzzles behind and make them only at summer holidays. 

Since MrW moved out we have not made any in this house. Last Christmas SantaClaus brought this puzzle for me and YoungLady. We did this on skiing holiday on the week 10 in March. YoungLady fell in love with puzzles again and we had so much fun when doing it.

That's why we investigated the house and see what MrW left behind. We found few puzzles and decided to do also this on sking holiday. This is very old and I remember how extraordinary it was with the fluorescent effect. If i remember it right, this was bought from Lidl. Lidl was one of the shops that literally brought the miracles of the big world to our grocery shop selections! They still say Finns love to do scene and "familiar building" puzzles. I claim it is because Finnish shops never sell anything but those!!! Sometimes it is very hard to find anything else but something from scene or architecture collection.

By Easter we did this. This one is also very old and one of the rare different ones we managed to find. I usually hunted these special puzzles for the whole year to get one for Christmas!

After the wolf and Easter we decided to start this one. Also it is old and special for us. This is one of the challenging ones I show you here at this blog post.

My intention is to be educative -as usual- for those who are not experienced with puzzles yet. Compare the pics above. This is a very difficult but also that's why it is very time consuming (if you need such puzzle). Look at the snow at front. That's challenging. Look at the sky. That's extremely difficult. So, when you pick up a puzzle, if you need challenging or difficult one this type is a good choice. It has easy parts but also very difficult ones. BUT you need to have good nerves and patience with this one. We, I and YoungLady, did the sky for days and at some point even considered to have a hammer to force the pieces to fit!

BigPuzzleMat -tutorial

Yes, it is true, you can't buy everything. BigPuzzleMat is one of those things. Meaning a mat for 9000 piece puzzle sized 193 x 139 cm. That's why I had to make one and here's tutorial also for you. Then you or the kids can freely enjoy about the hobby. Just roll it all up when you need to clean the floor. My design for you.

The 1st guestion was; around which to roll it all up? The result was this cardboard tube. Around these they rollup the fabrics at the factories to transport the fabrics to the shops. And the fabric shops have plenty of these. And if you buy fabric they usually give this for free to you because for them it is just trash. Ask for it and ask it for free. I bought 2,5m of fabric that was 1,4m wide. It costed 19,60€ and 3m of cord that cost 2,10€ so it all together made 21,70€.

My tube is 1,4m wide so the size was just perfect. But you can also cut these tubes shorther.

Neaten the edges of the fabric. You can use sewing machine's zigzag stitch or overlock machine.You need to neaten only there where the fabric has been cut. If the fabric's side edges are not cut they won't ravel out.

If you are using overlock machine this is good way to hide the loose end. If you cut it; it will ravel out during the time for a bit. But if you leave the yarns a bit longer and hide them like this the edge will stay good looking. (From this picture you can see the side edge of the fabric which doesn't ravel out.)

You need to measure the size of the tube ring.

Mine was 19cm. I made the fold that forms out the passageway for the tube. The size of the passageway is half of 19cm = 9,5cm plus 1-2cm extra (to get the tube easily in) and the seam allowance 1cm.

Sew the passageway. And then fasten the cords to the other end of the fabric. I made 3 cords. One in the centre and two 15cm far away from the side edges. I had 3m of cord which I cut in three 1m long pieces. Then I sew these pieces from their midpoints so that each cord -at the end- was 0,5m long.

Slide the tube in.

 Roll it all up.

Tie it all up.

Ta-dah! You made it! It was not difficult at all!

PS. Excellent gift idea for a PuZZleLoveR <3