Category: Dortmund

For Art’s Sake, 2025-01-26

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This was the last Sunsout puzzle in my to-do pile, and I don’t think I’ll be getting any more of them. The cut was, again, very mushy, and the pieces had to pushed very firmly into the places where they belong. A few times I had already tried a piece for a spot and thought it didn’t belong there, only to later find that I just wasn’t pushing hard enough. Very annoying. Too bad that most Susan Brabeau images available as puzzles are licensed by Sunsout – I would love to do more of her images, but the Sunsout quality is just too poor.

For Art’s Sake by Susan Brabeau, Sunsout, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 26, 2025.

For the puzzle challenge, this is No. 15, a statue.

Upstairs, Downstairs, 2025-01-23

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I had completely forgotten that I’d started this puzzle back in December, so it was a nice surprise when I got back to Dortmund yesterday for my first visit of the year. This was a lovely puzzle, although a bit more challenging than I was expecting.

Upstairs, Downstairs, Ravenburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 23, 2025.

It even fits in with the puzzle challenge, even though I started it long before I knew what would be included for 2025: this is No. 4, a peek inside.

Yogaland, 2024-11-06

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After many years of intensive puzzling, I’ve now eased up a bit, and spent more time watching movies. I still puzzle, and whatever I do put together will end up here eventually.

This is one of the 2024 Heye puzzles by my favourite artist Marino Degano.

Yogaland by Marino Degano, Heye, 1500 pieces. Completed on November 6, 2024.

No phones allowed in Yogaland:

There’s a very qualified instructor for the cobra pose:

As usual, there’s a puzzle, but I can’t make out which one this time:

Even in Yogaland there are murders, it seems:

There is a performance by Lady Yogaga to look forward to:

Unsurprisingly, I loved this puzzle and all the funny details!

The Craft Cupboard, 2024-09-16

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I usually find the Curious Cupboards series a bit too busy, with such a lot of small details, and while I can’t say this is an exception, I did enjoy it a lot more than I expected to. Guess I was in the right mood for this kind of puzzle.

The Craft Cupboard by Colin Thompson, Ravensburger, 1000 pieces. Completed on September 16, 2024.

Our Special Place in Venice, 2024-09-13

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This puzzle came in two bags, and I did not mix the pieces. I started the first bag in June, but I’ve had very little time in Dortmund since then, it’s been about three long weekends, so I’m amazed that it’s already finished. The pieces are really small, and the finished puzzle is sightly smaller than a Ravensburger 2K puzzle.

Our Special Place in Venice, Castorland, 3000 pieces. Completed on September 13, 2024.

There were pauses of several weeks when I was in Helsinki, and I always found the puzzle quite hard to get back into. I would sit before the puzzle unable to place a single piece for quite some time, and then, as soon as I got the first piece in, it seemed easy again, and I was placing pieces left and right. Done in two sections it wasn’t really that difficult. The dark pieces in the bottom right corner were last.

Magic Moment, 2024-07-22

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I had almost given up hope of finding this puzzle. I occasionally do stock takes of all my puzzles based on my database, and a few years ago I noticed that this puzzle was missing. I searched for it both in Helsinki and in Dortmund, and now I finally found it – it had slipped behind some other puzzles on a shelf.

The puzzle was produced in 2014, and interestingly, it’s not the same type of fit or finish that Schmidt puzzles have now. The fit was looser, and the finish shinier than current Schmidt puzzles, in fact, it reminded me of Heye. I did know that Schmidt has changed, but I thought it was more than 10 years ago. Anyway, the puzzle was fun, if a little more difficult than I was expecting.

Magic Moment by Ciro Marchetti, Schmidt, 500 pieces. Completed on July 22, 2024.

Our Special Place in Venice, In Progress

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In Dortmund, I’m working on a 3000 piece Castorland puzzle. There were two bags, and i didn’t mix them, so it’s really more like two 1500-piece puzzles. I finished the left half on my last trip. The pieces are really small, the finished puzzle will be the same size as a Castorland 2K puzzle. I don’t mind small pieces in smaller puzzles, but with a large piece count, it gets a bit tedious.

Tea in the Garden, 2024-06-25

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The last puzzle I finished in Dortmund before returning to Helsinki was another June’s Journey puzzle:

As you can see, it’s a mystery puzzles with more objects in the finished puzzle. Last time, I completed the entire puzzle first and then started to look for the missing objects, but I missed several, so this time I started writing down the objects as I was puzzling, and this way I found them all. There is, of course, an image with all the objects in the box. You can have a look at the finished puzzle here.