Jigsaw #5 - Narrow Boat Adventures

 I got this one from Facebook Market place, and it is one that I loved the moment I saw it, so it didn't bother me that it was in a town 90 mins drive away. I don't normally purchase ones that far away as crazy stupid to drive and spend petrol on a jigsaw.

Luckily, I needed to go look at shops over in the town, still trying to find a Mother of the Groom dress for the upcoming wedding and also needed a day out with a friend. So, we took our time and had a fun day in the sun dress shopping and collecting a jigsaw.

I loved completing this one, but it was very easy. Once you had sorted out the boat pieces, the water and the ducks it just fell into place. Therefore, it only took me less than 24 hours from start to finish!

Jigsaw #4 - Birdwatchers View

 A simple one that was a delight to put together, however, it is summer here and there has been other things to focus on, so that is why there was a gap between this one and the last completed one. I am aiming to still achieve 52 or more jigsaws this year. I just know that in the winter months there will be plenty of indoor evening time to plow through jigsaws faster than in the summer.

I actually have another from this series, so look forward to completing it at some stage.

Jigsaw #3 - Mini Houses

 As you know, I bought a jigsaw off of Temu. Wrote a post about it here, all because it turned out to be a micro mini one!

Well, I finally got round to completing it. And let me tell you, it was a wee struggle, but I did eventually achieve it.

I may have slightly cheated, the best you can on a jigsaw puzzle! That is because the back of the jigsaw pieces had a letter on them and therefore, the letters corresponded to a section. Collect all the letters together and then you had the square to put together.

So, whilst I did complete the jigsaw, I completed it in a slightly different way. I sorted all the letters into groups and then put the pieces for that section together. Once it was sorted into the smaller piles, it came together really easily, even despite the size of the pieces!

It hasn't put me off of buying more from Temu, in fact I have purchased another one, I will just be more mindful of the size they quote and work out how big I think it will be.

Jigsaw #2 - The Four Seasons

 And within a week I have completed the next one, and this one is even 2000 pieces. Amazing what you can do when on holiday from work and taking time to relax.

This jigsaw I have had for a while, but like the start of last year, I didn't have a board big enough to complete it on. I had established over a year ago or more that this one would not fit on my felted board, so I stored all the sorted pieces in little bags and put the jigsaw away.

Fast forward to now, when I have finally come up with a solution and here, we go.

The easiest way I could think to complete this one was to sort the pieces by season. There were some distinct colours for each season, so it was not difficult. Although it was not fool proof and I was left with a box of pieces that could have gone absolutely anywhere. So, I did each season first and then filled in the gaps as I understood the picture.

It was fun to do, a steady piece of work that was done by either doing a large session sat with it or putting in a few pieces whenever I walked past. The old, find 10 pieces and have to put them in before I can leave. I find that makes it fun to do a small handful of pieces and then walk away.

Jigsaw #1 - Disney

 And the year has started. I finished my last jigsaw on 28 December and so, after deciding which one to complete next, sorting the pieces and then, in between activities and family, I have finally finished the first one of the year.

A really cute but slightly difficult and frustrating Disney one.

The top and bottom border were almost the death of me! The pieces were almost identical and getting the right shape together so that it went together correctly, was annoying. I think I undid it several times and at the end I had to redo the border to get it right!

It was a fun one to do, even if there were moments, but who can resist Disney and all my childhood characters.

2025 Jigsaw Update

 And just like that the year is ending.

I completed 32 jigsaws this past year, quite impressive considering I don't just sit around and do them all the time. They are my evening hobby and even then, sometimes it can be a few weeks between completing them.

There definitely was a conscious effort to complete a lot this year and that will roll into 2026 when I will be aiming to beat my annual total.

As mentioned in my posts, the jigsaws come from gifts, swapped, purchased brand new myself (usually always on sale), bought on Facebook marketplace or even loaned from a friend.

This next year, I need to complete some harder ones, ones that will challenge me a little more, push me out of my comfort zone. I have found some of them too easy. The colours are too simple to put together, the shapes are too easy to find. More detail leads to easier to complete. So, whilst there will be some that have a cute picture or fun design that I will complete because I want to enjoy them, I will be looking at larger more challenging ones that will take a little longer and challenge me more to complete.

I don't really have one that I hated doing this year, but I had two that were frustrating, and they both happened to be circular in shape!

The Floral Compass and Butterfly, although, reading back on the post I wrote about the Butterfly, I cursed more completing that one than any other, so guess that one was my worst to complete.

I don't have a particular one that was the best to complete, they were all fun and no one particularly stood out for me.

Onwards and upwards for 2026 and to see if I can beat 32 😊

Jigsaw 32 - Immersed in Nature

 I acquired this brand-new jigsaw from marketplace, so was cheap but had never been done before. Obviously, someone was having a clear out and did not now want to complete it. I do love catching great bargains like this.

This looked tricky due to the colours and it was, although it made separating the pieces into some distinct colours reasonably easy too.

I knew it would have moments of challenge and I am glad that it did.

Temu

 Oh the wonderful power of Temu shopping, the dark hole we all fall into and then surface from, minus a healthy balance on the credit card!

I don't think I know of one person who has ever not bought some crazy little thing from Temu, thinking it will be crap, happy to spend the small amount of cash for it just to see what it is like, only to then find it is the best thing they have ever bought and wonder how they survived life without it all this time! Ok, I do also know that there really is some total crap on there too!

When I shop there, which I do not make a habit of doing, I have found some good items on there at times, although jigsaws tend to show in the suggested section. I have often wondered about their 1000-piece jigsaws for only $7-9? Are they any good, are the pieces going to be paper thin and useless staying together. Are they going to even go together?

On my last order, I tempted fate and ordered a jigsaw, just to see what I got. I was prepared to sacrifice $9 for the cause.

I chose a design that I thought would be fun to complete, but also maybe a little on the semi easy side due to the main bold colours that would be easy to sort.

It came in my parcel a few days later, they are actually quite fast at getting deliveries to NZ, almost like it has actually come from NZ! 

Now, immediately, when I removed it from the delivery bag it was obvious there was going to be an issue but there were also the odd positive to start with. It came in a nice solid plastic box, and it had a poster of the picture too. It also had the alphabet on the back in a grid fashion so that you could complete sections if you wish by collecting all of the pieces with the letter 'A' and complete that section.

The quality of the pieces was good, nice thick sturdy pieces not paper thin, and they joined together very well. The only one downside of it all.......

The size of the pieces, yes, the box was no bigger that an A5 sheet of paper and the pieces, well a Paracetamol capsule was bigger than the pieces!

Yes, I had hit the one main problem with this jigsaw, it had micro size pieces. Now I don't remember seeing anything on the page that suggested it was a small jigsaw when finished, measuring maybe only A4 paper size and if I was to look at getting another jigsaw from Temu, I will definitely be checking the page thoroughly for finished measurement size!

I will report back more when I actually complete the jigsaw but for now, I would say the size is probably the only thing I can find wrong with it, so giving it a 9/10 on the product for what I can see, feel and establish that it seems to be a reasonably good quality jigsaw, just a little small!

Jigsaw 31 - Christmas Flower Shop

 2nd Christmas jigsaw to be completed. One from a series of the shop in different seasons.

So distinct colours so not difficult to do, but still had some moments of frustration.

Definitely makes me dream of a winter white Christmas time

Jigsaw 30 - Ugly Sweaters

 Whilst I am happy to do a Christmas jigsaw at any time of the year, they are always cute pictures, this one just had to be done at Christmas time.

Because I live in New Zealand, we sadly do not have ugly Christmas sweaters due to it being our summertime and the temperatures are too high for us to require a sweater.

But that doesn't mean we don't dream of a cold white Christmas time, we just wear ugly Christmas sweater t-shirts instead, or t-shirts with jokes about ugly sweaters!

I actually purchased this jigsaw myself. My cousin and her family love wearing ugly sweaters and always try to have a mid-winter Christmas weekend here so that they can have an opportunity to wear the sweaters. So, I purchased it, knowing that she would enjoy the jigsaw too

And now it was my turn to complete it.

It was fun to do. Definitely one to be sorted by colour.

It has since been loaned out to a friend who is also obsessed with ugly Christmas sweaters.

Jigsaw 29 - The Bizarre Bookshop

 One I got off of marketplace and was intrigued by the colours, design and intricate detail. In true form, I thought it would be easy but the colour was so intricate and fine that it took some real doing to get the right location.

But I loved all the titles of the books, the qwerky little animals and characters hidden around the bookcase, in between the books

Kudos to the artist on the intricate detail of the whole design

Jigsaw 28 - The Village Show

 This one I received for my birthday the other week. After finishing the previous one that took a little bit of thinking, then it was nice to do one that flowed nicely with some main colour areas. Again, I started with the flags and worked down.

Jigsaw 27 - Jigsaw Festival

 And it continues, another one. I got this in the sale in my local store because the box was damaged. Obviously, that makes no difference to the jigsaw itself.

It was not as easy as I thought it would be, as there was no one main colour that stood out. They all blended together on the pieces. I started with the flags at the top and the 3 main people in the front.

Jigsaw 26 - Flower Shoppe

 Another simple one to complete, allowing me to pass the time completing the puzzle and watching tv to have down time from work.

Holdson Jigsaw

 Holdson has become my least favourite puzzle brand recently, after all the issues I have had with them, I have found the other brands to be a better quality. Will only get them off of marketplace now and not purchase them brand new.

Just not worth it as getting very bored with their designs and actually saw the other week, that they had taken a design that I have already completed by another brand and it had been reimagine, by the artist, to create a new one, but it was only small subtle changes that had been made so knew I had already done that design. 

New Holdson design

Come on, at least come up with new designs!

Are they that desperate for images to use that they have to work with the same artist from another country and recreate, when they could come up with something new.

Jigsaw 25 - Wasgij Future Picture

 Right away I will say that I am not a fan of Wasgij, it has just never taken my fancy as a jigsaw to complete. Whilst it is fun and challenging to complete something that you do not know the design of, so calls on all your puzzling skills and tests your patience, it is just not one I have favored towards.

Having said that a friend found some in her garage storage and wanted to see if all the pieces were there, so offered me 3-4 to complete, in my own time.

So, as a break from the traditional 1000 pieces I have been doing too fast, I gave this one a go.

It wasn't difficult to do, and in some parts flowed well and was easy, but I still am not a fan of this style of puzzle.

Jigsaw 24 - Vintage Book Shop

 This past weekend I have not been well.

I have the start of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia, although they are currently classing it as Palindromic rheumatism. So occasionally I get flare ups where I have pain in my ankles, wrists, knees, hips and neck. The pain comes on for no reason; nothing sets it off and it can last for 6 hours to 3 days. Pain relief and rest is usually the treatment. There is not much I can do when in a flare up, walking is painful, legs sometimes struggle to work, hands don't want to work as no strength in them and my brain just does not cope well.

So, this past weekend I have spent a lot of time sitting and completing jigsaws as it is easy to do and doesn't hurt my wrists so much. It is my first major flare up in the past 4-6 months.

This one was finished within 24 hours of the Lego one as I have had nothing else, I can do during that time.

It was easy to sort into colours, went together easily and apart from being a Holdson and being flimsy and breaking easily every time you caught a piece on your sleeve, it was nice to do. 

Jigsaw 23 - Space Stars

 This was easy, quick and fun to complete.

I do like the Lego jigsaws but there is not much challenge to them because the colours are easy to identify and sort and then they come together very quickly.

So, start to finish took all of about 24 hours.

Jigsaw 22 - Butterfly

 This is one I got from marketplace and thought it might be somewhat easy to complete.

Yeah, well, occasionally, I am totally wrong! This one was tricky, drove me spare and I think I cursed every time I touched it until it was finished. The colours smashed into each other and the pieces were not easy to identify by pattern/colour alone. Several times I searched all available pieces for what I thought it would be only to find it looked slightly different.

Glad I finished it but by far my least favourite one this year.

Now on to one a little simpler

Jigsaw 21 - Sidewalk Fashion

 This one is actually 1500 pieces, and I have enjoyed completing a jigsaw slightly bigger than normal. It did mean I had to get my board out to complete it on as it was too large for the card table I usually use. Whilst 1000 pieces is a good size to complete, a bigger one is always fun, and I wish I could get more of the large sizes to complete. Still trying to work out how to get a slightly bigger board so I can complete 2000 pieces more easily.

I have started looking at measurements to see how to make myself a slightly bigger board, so watch this space.