Mark Twain

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do ...
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Saturday, January 2, 2021

Edger Alan Poe - Macabre Mansion

 

This is the second puzzle I have attempted since returning to jigsaw puzzles as a past time and this one was a doozy.  Hard, hard, hard. 

It is called Macabre Mansion and each cut away room of the mansion represents one of the stories of Edger Alan Poe.  He wrote pretty dark stuff and that is why the house looks haunted.


Box Cover

I learned pretty early on that if I wanted to feel like I was making progress on this puzzle I needed to take pictures at various stages and compare.  It was too easy to imagine that a puzzle about dark stories might be “dark” itself - putting in pieces and never getting ahead.  And sometime it felt just like that.



November 29, 2020
I couldn’t help the feeling that I might have bit off more than I could chew with this puzzle.
After all, the first puzzle was only 500 pieces and it moved along consistently.  This puzzle I took many breaks from.  I would get 4 or 5 puzzle pieces in and then it would just dry up.  Nothing.  I would take a break and come back 5 or 6 hours later - and put another 2 or 3 pieces in - and again, it would dry up.
And so it went for days.


December 8, 2020
It was between December 8 and the 25th that I inspired myself to keep moving forward by playing a little mind game.  With each piece that I put in I reminded myself I didn’t need to sort through THAT piece again if it made it onto the puzzle board.


December 25, 2020
At Christmas I could really tell a difference.  Christmas, being what it was this year (quiet with no demands) I pushed forward wanting to finished before 2021.


December 30, 2020
I could see progress if I looked at the board, but finding the correct pieces didn’t get all that much easier.  I decided that the pictures were small and the pieces were small and the visual clues of the surrounding pictures didn’t seem to help all that much finding the missing piece.


January 1, 2021
Ok, so I didn’t complete it by the end of 2020!  But it is complete.
I can’t tell you how many times I decided that a piece was missing.  That I looked through all the remaining pieces and could not find the one I was looking for.  I would have bet money
pieces were missing.  Nothing was missing.  Glad I didn’t express that thought out loud.


In the last week of completion I found myself running my hands over the finished areas
enjoying the feeling of being so close to done.



A few close ups to show the complexity of the images.  


DONE!!

It stayed like that overnight and I enjoyed looking at it again over coffee this morning.
Now it is broken apart and into its box.  I did hold out the edge pieces and put them in a separate baggie just in case I repeat this puzzle again.


It is hard to know if I will repeat making any of the puzzles I have.  I don’t re-read books, or duplicated knitted items.  I am not much of a repeater.  But you never know.











12 comments:

Leftycrafter said...

Wow, that is a doozy of a puzzle. As soon as my dining room table is devested of Christmas, I will be putting a puzzle on it. Like you, I have never repeated a puzzle or reread a book. I have repeated knitting patterns though (socks and hats). Do you have another puzzle ready to start?

happyone said...

Oh my that does look like a hard one. We are always thinking a piece is missing too. :)

Michelle said...

I'm not much of a repeater, either, but the last knit of 2020 (which I haven't shown in my blog because it's a gift) was from a pattern for fingerless mitts that I've used at least nine times because it is easy and so very wearable.

Marie Smith said...

It looks challenging but you did it! I always enjoyed puzzles but haven’t done one in a while.

Wendy said...

Wow that does look hard. so many dark pieces. Well done. Yes I'm not a puzzle repeater. Once I'm done I'll often donate them - that's where a lot of mine come from in the first place - charity shops, jumble trails etc. Of course the ones bought as gifts are usually kept or maybe shared within the family.

M.K. said...

That looks so HARD! So many dark gray pieces. But Poe's work is fascinating, so the end result is amazing! Good job :)

Cynthia said...

Wow, I can see that that is a tough one. All those similar shades of brown, for one thing. Last winter when I was recovering from knee surgery I did a lot of puzzles. (Also, my cat who always insisted on ... um .... participating had died, making it possible for me to do puzzles again!) Anyway, it got expensive fast! So I have kept those puzzles thinking I would do them again but I can’t get up the enthusiasm to repeat. So I know what you mean about doing them a second time. One of these rainy winter days I will probably succumb.

Michelle said...

I think it is clear that those of us who like jigsaw puzzles but aren' 'repeaters' need to TRADE! I wonder if puzzles can be sent 'Media Mail'???

Retired Knitter said...

Michelle - I think you are onto to something. Trade! That idea has promise if there is a group interested!!

Becki said...

That does look like a hard puzzle! I'm glad you took progress pictures. It was fun to watch grow. :

A :-) said...

I am a puzzle repeater - but that's probably because most of the puzzles I have and prefer are the old Victory Gold Box ones where there is no photo. So even when I repeat one, it's usually months/years later and although I have a general idea of what it's like, there's no photo to go along with it so it's like new again :-) Am guessing this stems from childhood where wooden puzzles were always kept and and done again and again. :-)

Michelle said...

Elaine, I'll ask when I go to the post office in the morning if they can ship Media Mail. If they can, trading puzzles would be economical as well as fun!