Tag: puzzle swap

Posted on

Speed Puzzling & Puzzle Swap

I had so much fun at the speed puzzling competition last Saturday. It was really enjoyable to watch the competitors and see how quickly they finished the puzzles. Everyone was very nice, and the puzzle swap was a big success.

For the competition, the solo winner completed a 300-piece puzzle in 30 minutes. The pairs winners finished a 300-piece puzzle in 16 minutes, and the team winners did their 500-piece puzzle in 30 minutes. Those times are all so impressive; I could never puzzle that fast!

Solo
Pairs
Teams

The puzzle swap table was filled with a variety of piece counts and images. I brought 14 puzzles to swap and ended up coming home with 10 new puzzles. I am very happy with the ones I got. I could have taken more but didn’t want to bring anything home that I wasn’t in love with.

These are the puzzles I got in the swap:

  • Pumpkins & Gourds, Ceaco, 300 pieces
  • Sugar & Spice by Charles Wysocki, Buffalo Games, 1000 pieces
  • Birch Point Cove by Charles Wysocki, Buffalo Games, 1000 pieces
  • Chickenology by Camilla Pintonato, Princeton Architectural Press, 1000 pieces
  • All Cool Things Are Wild & Free by Valesca van Waveren, Workman Puzzles, 1000 pieces
  • Bon Appetit by Lucia Heffernan, Eurographics, 300 pieces
  • Home Sweet Home by Demelsa Haughton, Ravensburger, 500 pieces
  • Art Studio by Jen DellaGrottaglia, Ravensburger, 500 pieces
  • Disney & Pixar Color Pallette, Ravensburger, 500 pieces
  • Potted Posies, Page Publications, 1000 pieces

The Bon Appetit puzzle that I got in the swap was the one used in the pairs competition, so I decided to time myself doing it to see how I would compare. I did it in 53:46. I am really happy with that time, but I don’t plan to continue timing my puzzles. I didn’t like the pressure and wasn’t able to enjoy the image because I was just looking for patterns and details.

This was a fun event to attend, and I’m really glad I went.

Posted on

Library Haul and Puzzle Swaps

I read most of my books on my phone these days, but occasionally I have to make a trip to the library for some physical books that I can’t find in Libby or Hoopla. I picked up these two on my last trip and have already started Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop. It’s lovely so far.

The two puzzles I found in the community collection section of the library. I’m not sure why items are placed there instead of in regular circulation, but there were a few puzzles mixed in with the books and audiobooks. I had a nice chat with the librarian about it and found out they want you to let them know when you are taking items and how many and then return them like you would regular library items. That way they can see how much use the collection is getting.

I asked about donations, and they accept up to a box a day per person and it can include puzzles. There is no guarantee the donations would end up in the community collection, though. They could be included in the next library book sale if that’s what they decide. So I’m debating whether to donate puzzles to them or just hold onto them for the next time there is a puzzle swap near me.

Speaking of swaps, I exchanged messages recently with someone from one of the Facebook groups I belong to who wanted to swap some puzzles. I accidentally agreed to exchange a puzzle I really didn’t want to part with because I didn’t read what she had written very carefully, and I was not sure what to do about it, but then she had to delay the swap due to some health issues and asked if I wanted to wait or cancel, so I was able to cancel without impunity. It was such a relief!

Posted on

So Many Puzzles, So Little Time (and Space!)

Over the last few years, my puzzle collection has grown to exceed my book collection by quite a bit. To be fair, I only own a fraction of the books I have owned throughout my life as I have downsized books several times and mostly read library or digital books these days.

So I recently had Michael help me build a new bookshelf to house more of my puzzles. It was a pretty inexpensive one from Amazon, so it’s not very sturdy, but at least it’s standing. If I ever have to move, I’m not sure it will survive the trip!

Last Saturday, I did a bit of thrifting and was really happy with the results. The last time I was at Community Aid, the puzzle selection was sparse, but this time, they had a whole bin of pretty nice puzzles and I grabbed five of them. Then I went to Blue Mountain Thrift Store, which is where my son Michael works, and I was happy to see that they had puzzles as well. A lot of them were the really old ones you tend to see at thrift stores, but they did have some newer ones and I picked out three of them to purchase.

Yesterday, I attended a pop up puzzle swap which was in the parking lot of a shopping center in my town. It was put together fairly quickly, so unfortunately only three people showed up, but the organizer is hoping to do more of them and I had an enjoyable time talking with the two other ladies who were there.

I took twenty puzzles to swap, three of which were sets with multiple puzzles in the box. One of the women took one puzzle, and the other one took one regular puzzle and one set that had four puzzles. The woman who took the set had lots of puzzles to choose from. She mostly does 1000 piece puzzles, her sister does 500 pieces, and her mom does 300 pieces, and she had a TON of 300 piece puzzles. I don’t normally do a lot of 300 pieces, but they are nice when you just want something quick and easy.

I ended up getting six new-to-me puzzles, including several from Charles Wysocki, who I am very drawn to. When I sat down at home to add them to my puzzle spreadsheet, I realized that one of them was a duplicate of one I got thrifting last weekend – oops! I’m not too upset about it; I will just pass it on to someone else.

My puzzles to swap
The puzzles I got

I think I am going to start posting the puzzles I want to get rid of on Facebook Marketplace. The woman who organized the puzzle swap yesterday shared with me that when she posts puzzles there, she mentions in the description that she is willing to swap, and some people have taken her up on that instead of just buying the puzzles. I think that would help me fill my thirst for new puzzles without breaking the bank!

Posted on

My First Puzzle Swap

On Friday afternoon, I attended my very first puzzle swap! It was held by Susquehanna Township Parks and Recreation, and it was a lot of fun.

Each person who brought puzzles set them up on a table or on chairs around the room and then walked around the room checking out all the puzzles. Once you found a puzzle you liked, you would ask the person to see if there was a puzzle of yours they would like to trade for.

I took six puzzles but several people brought quite a few more than that, and it was fun to see all the different options. I ended up trading five of mine and donating the last one to the township summer camp program. The picture above shows the puzzles I came home with after the event.

It was a great event and it sounds like they might do it again, which I would really enjoy.