One of the puzzlers I follow on YouTube offered several bundles of traveling puzzles earlier this year, and I eagerly signed up for one. Not all of them filled up, so I got the chance to sign up for a second one, and that’s the one I received last week. Both puzzles in this bundle are from Villager Puzzles, which is a woman-owned Canadian brand that features Canadian women artists.
The first puzzle I did was Cottage Country, which is by Nicolle Lalonde and is 500 pieces. It was fairly easy. I love how the setting sun looks reflected on the water.
The second puzzle was Lupines Meadow by Diana Pinnell. It is 1000 pieces. This one was quite challenging, but it is so lovely.
Sunset Mountains is a gorgeous 250-piece puzzle from Wentworth Wooden Puzzles. This is my first wooden puzzle, but I have heard only good things about this brand, which is made in Britain. They also are quite a bit pricier than cardboard puzzles, which is one of the reasons I haven’t tried them out before now.
The opportunity to do this puzzle came about because I am a Patreon supporter of a puzzler I follow on YouTube. She decide to offer this as a traveling puzzle to her patrons, so I signed up for it. The puzzle was sent to me by the first person who got it, and I will be sending it to the next person on the list in a few days.
This puzzle was a joy from beginning to end. The pieces are laser-cut into intricate shapes with a few pieces being shaped like identifiable objects – those are called whimsy pieces.
Pile of piecesFirst two pieces put togetherWhimsy pieces
I decided not to start with the border because it was quite dark and I wanted to get more comfortable with how the pieces fit together. So I pulled out the brightest colors first and worked out from there. Once I got about 2/3 finished, I did the rest of the border and then filled in the darkest pieces.
Session 1Session 2Session 3
After I finished the puzzle, I took the whimsy pieces out so that my friend Renee could see them when she came over to my place the other day.
I would love to do more wooden puzzles, but I’m not sure they are in my budget. Either way, I’m really glad that I got to do this one!
In So Many Words 