Pup-perfect! Christmas, Puppies, and the Postal Service!

 by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

My most recent puzzle is a 1000-piece titled Christmas Puppies by Robert Giordano. Before I spend time putting a puzzle together, I must have a connection to it. My connection to this puzzle is my love for Christmas and puppies. This puzzle has both bases covered in that the scene in the puzzle has twelve puppies in a room filled with Christmas decorations. I am also into photography and I believe that every photo tells a story. When I see the picture of the puzzle I am putting together I try to imagine the story the artist was trying to tell.

I am going to try to describe the story I imagined the artist had in mind in this puzzle. I saw a beautiful Christmas scene with twelve puppies each a different breed who are cute and cuddly. They appear to be a happy group of well-groomed dogs. Some of them look like they might get into a little mischievous behavior if the occasion came up. I felt that the owners of these pups must be at home because there is a gas fed log fire burning in the living room fireplace.

"Christmas Puppies" 1000pc assembled & photographed by Elmer Prather

It is not Christmas day yet because there are gifts on the floor that are still being wrapped. One of the pups has a strip of red ribbon in his mouth. This ribbon is going to be tied in a bow for a present once it is wrapped in the spiraling red and green Christmas paper laying on the floor. Two of the pups have small bows decorating their forehead. This scene is a far cry from the first recorded Christmas celebrated in Rome on December 25th, 366 AD. There were no Christmas trees, decorations, warm cookies, or snow on the very first Christmas celebration in Rome. Speaking of gifts, Christian believers received the greatest gift of all on the day that Jesus Christ was born.

Nothing to see here! There may be one mischievous pup in the crowd!

 The large Christmas tree sitting in the corner of the room has been tastefully decorated with Christmas ornaments. Since all the tree is not visible in the puzzle picture, I was not able to determine if a star had been placed on the top of it. Stars placed on Christmas trees symbolize, according to Christian belief, the Star of Bethlehem, also known as the Christmas Star. This star revealed the birth of Jesus to the Biblical Magi and subsequently guided them to the town of Bethlehem where Jesus was born. The pups seem well behaved and do not seem interested in taking the ornaments off the tree. The two who are taking a nap are sleeping in a new Americana wooden snow sleigh. They must live in the Northern part of the United States because the owners would need a lot of snow to utilize the sleigh. There are doggie toys laying on the floor where the puppies can have ready access to them. The room is filled with Christmas displays so the owners must love Christmas as well as their pups.

Maybe after this cute photo, the owner is going to have some tea - we see the kettle is on!

Except for the two napping puppies, the others look as if they are posing for a photograph. Perhaps they are posing for a picture to be used for Christmas Cards to be sent to the owners’ friends and family. Christmas cards started in the Victorian era with the first card being sent and received in 1843. The first Christmas card was received by Sir Henry Cole who set up the Public Record Office which evolved into today’s Post Office. They were designed by his artist friend, John Horsley, who was given the idea of creating Christmas cards by Cole, to help encourage more people to use postal services. The first card depicted a family celebrating and enjoying a Christmas feast. The tradition took off and now millions of Christmas cards are sent around the world during the Christmas season. Some Christmas cards today have Happy Holidays rather than Merry Christmas greetings.

Merry Christmas to all,

Elmer Prather
Canton, Georgia
U S A

"Christmas Puppies" 1000pc puzzle by Robert Giordano

In Canada, recently purchased at these Preferred Retailers:

Gestion Imaginaire, Bookingham Palace, Athena, Mind Bender Toys, Kite and Kaboodle, Wicked Stuff, Great Things in Store, Vancouver Kidsbook, Ritchie Feed and Seed, Discovery Hut, L.A. Mood Comics and Games

In the USA, click here to see the puzzle (in 1000pc and 500pc)!

A Wee Sneak Peek at a Few NEW 2023 Puzzles

We are going to release new puzzles in January 2023. How many do you ask? 123! Well, technically 94 new images and 29 that are new to that piece count.

What does "new to this piece count" mean? It means that we are responding to requests from puzzlers to put some of our existing images in a different piece count. While it isn't feasible to do this for every request, we hope that many more puzzlers will now be able to enjoy the image in their favoured piece count. There will be 29 images that have moved into a new piece count - so hopefully one of them is the one you requested!

With the 1000 piece count being our most popular by far, we've added the most puzzles in that category with 59 images. We're also seeing growth in the 500 piece count, and we're getting great feedback from puzzlers that they like the bigger pieces - so that category will get 33 images in total. The ever growing Family Pieces 350 piece count will see 14 images - including a super duper cute cat and dog one that I think our 1000 piece fans will be wishing they had! Our beloved Easy Handling 275 piece count puzzles will see 11 images, including a new one from Peggy Davis and a few mini-collage style puzzles that we haven't tried in this category yet (we'll share one below). And the 2000 piece will get six new puzzles plus four images that have been revised to improve on lighting and theme. 

Enough babbling, let's look at some images! 

1. Bird Cabin. If you think we have a lot of bird puzzles, you're right! And no matter how many we add, they all sell really well, especially when it's a Greg Giordano. 

Bird Cabin 1000 piece by Greg Giordano

2. Christmas Flower Shop. If you're a super fan of Cobble Hill, then you know that this is a festive spinoff of our Parisian Flowers puzzle. That Cobble Hill Flower Shop stays busy year-round!

Christmas Flower Shop 1000 piece by Barbara Behr

3. Brambly Hedge Winter Story. Being that it's the "winter" story - that means that there are also three more delightful seasonal Brambly Hedge puzzles coming your way - and they are all darling! Our Cobble Hill Creations team licensed the artwork and designed a beautiful collage that we hope brings back nostalgic memories of something sweet in your life. 

Brambly Hedge Winter Story 1000 piece by Jill Barklem

4. Back to School. While most of us puzzlers are probably pretty happy to be out of school, this fun puzzle will let you relive the good memories without worrying about getting graded. And as always, Shelley Davies leaves her signature somewhere in the puzzle to be found. 

Back to School 1000 piece by Shelley Davies

5. Family Outing. We can't resist Greg Giordano's puppies. Add in a Christmas tree and peaceful scenery - win win in our books. We wish this was available now, but if Giordano's "Christmas on the Farm" is any indication of how well this one will do - it'll very much be enjoyed throughout 2023. 

Family Outing 1000 piece by Greg Giordano

6. Dino Museum. Here's something different for us! We do have dinosaur puzzles, but they're all in our kids offerings. This one gives colourful Night at the Museum vibes!

Dino Museum 1000 piece by P.D. Moreno

7. Curve in the Square. Classic Cobble Hill nostalgia imagery, but this one feels more fun. We love the architecture and the playfulness of the scene. Hopefully, this makes you feel good inside.

Curve in the Square 1000 piece by Charlotte Joan Sternberg

8. Shooting the Breeze. It's been a true delight having Peggy Davis as a Cobble Hill artist. Her puzzles are bright and cheery - just what we all need this winter (and beyond)! 

Shooting the Breeze 500 piece by Peggy Davis

9. Two Wolves. This beautiful imagery is brought to you from the same artist as our Salish Coast Colours puzzle.  Whether or not you're a fan of sky and land imagery, we hope this aurora borealis background and the strength of the wolf will inspire courage for your journey in life. 

Two Wolves 500 piece by Tristan Wolf

10. Butterfly Tiles. Puzzlers who enjoy mini-collage type puzzles will delight in this all butterfly imagery. Portions of this puzzle come from our 2000 piece Butterflies & Blossoms puzzle, but now it's available in a size that more puzzlers can manage on their puzzle table!

Butterfly Tiles 500 piece by Jane Shasky

11. Ocean Magic. This Rosiland Solmon image is one of four collage themes for our Family Pieces 350 category. These are great for this piece count because the mini scenes will guide families as they collaborate to complete the puzzle.  We hope puzzlers enjoy the rainforest, river, and desert themes too. 

Ocean Magic Family Pieces 350 by Rosiland Solomon

12. Cats and Dogs Museum. Here's one that I know I'll be doing! This fun image comes to us by a new artist for Cobble Hill - Peter Adderley. We're excited to add this one to our collection and we hope that it will be enjoyed by more than only families!

Cats and Dogs Museum Family Pieces 350 by Peter Adderley

13. Cupcake Cafe. We're trying something different for our Easy Handling 275 piece count to see if puzzlers who enjoy this category will also enjoy a mini-collage scene, which has been very popular with our Cobble Hill puzzlers. We hope it's a sweet success!

Cupcake Cafe Easy Handling 275 piece by Catherine Holman 

14. Marmaduke. Here is an example of a "New to this Piece Count" puzzle. Many of you probably are smiling seeing this familiar and lovable cat! Marmaduke was in our 1000 piece category, but we're giving this friendly feline a spot in our Easy Handling 275 piece; You can tell Marmaduke is pleased with that decision. 

Marmaduke Easy Handling 275 piece by Geoffrey Tristram

15. Vroom Vroom. Our popular Hitting the Road 1000 piece puzzle was such a hit that we added six more scenes and made the puzzle bigger! Wheeee!!

Vroom Vroom 2000 piece by Mary Lake-Thompson

Well, that's all for images in this short sneak peek. But, we have one more announcement! If you're familiar with our 2000 piece puzzles, then you can probably tell by looking at the image above that it's a little "off". What about it looks different? Well, it's deeper. And it's deeper because ALL of our puzzle boxes will be following the "tiny house" trend in 2023. Below are the details to help you visualize. 

The finished size of all the puzzles will remain the same. 

• The 1000 to 275pc boxes are downsizing from 14" x 10" x 2.375" to 11.25" x 8.25" x 2" (think standard paper size).
• The 2000 piece will be the same length and width, but deeper at 3.75", which means they'll align flush with the rest of your collection. Currently, they are 15.75" x 10.50" x 2.75" - so they don't pack in a carton as well with other piece counts and they stick out on shelves - but not anymore!
• We're packing less air and a bigger reference poster that will now be 14" x 10" for 1000 to 275pc and 17.5" x 12.5" for the 2000 piece poster.

As inventory transitions and sells out, I'm sure we'll be seeing both box sizes for some time. If you shop local, that's wonderful because you can see and touch and read the information on the box. But if you're an online shopper, and the box size matters to you, then you'll want to look for clues as to which box size you're getting as not all retailers may outright list that information. 

Tip! In the image above, we've given some examples of clues that indicate which box size you'll be ordering. Look for words like "part number", "item code", "article code", "SKU", "UPC" - and if you see a "4" - it means you can fit more because those are the smaller boxes. A code starting with an "8" is the current state of what we're selling. Our hope is that it won't matter to you because you're just so keen to get our images in any box and enjoy our quirky puzzle pieces! 

Thank you for your continued support of Cobble Hill & our retailers! We look forward to seeing our puzzles on your shelves!

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Join our Quirky Together group and share your work in progress, finished puzzles, wish lists, and whatever else is on your mind. Thank you!

Rounding the Horn

by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

My latest puzzle is a 1000-piece titled Rounding The Horn by Ken Zylla. Before I spend time putting a puzzle together, I must have a connection to it. My connection to this puzzle is the steam powered locomotive pictured in the puzzle. I love steam powered locomotives. The train displayed in the picture is the Union Pacific number 942. It is pictured steaming along railroad tracks beside a swiftly flowing stream. 

Rounding the Horn assembled by Elmer Prather

The location is a setting comparable to the Garden of The Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado where sandstone formations like the ones displayed in the picture could be three hundred million years old. The Aspen trees are in full Fall color.

Look at all the lovely details in this close up

I have had the pleasure of riding on several steam powered locomotive trains. I once took a trip on one from Atlanta, Georgia to Chattanooga, Tennessee. On the way to and on the way back at each roadway crossing there were people standing along the roadway waiting for a glimpse of the train with the engineer tooting its horn as it passed by. It was apparent that a lot of people love old steam powered trains.

I was a passenger on another steam powered train that runs from Dillsboro, North Carolina to Bryson City, North Carolina. Shortly after the train departed the station in Dillsboro, the conductor announced that if we looked out of the left window of our passenger car, we could see the remains of the train that was derailed for filming the movie, The Fugitive. Much of the movie was filmed in and around Bryson City.

My favorite Steam powered train ride is the one from Durango, Colorado to Silverton, Colorado. The narrow-gauge forty-mile-long railroad track on which this train travels was constructed to move gold and silver ore from the mines in Silverton to Durango.

I live in Canton, Georgia USA which is near the Southern Museum of the Civil War and Locomotive History which is a Smithsonian Institution affiliate. The steam powered locomotive, the General is displayed there. The General is the locomotive stolen by Andrews Raiders. Andrews, a union spy, twenty union soldiers and two Union sympathizers all disguised as Confederate agents boarded the General at the Marietta, Georgia train depot. They uncoupled the train cars and pulled the General out of Marietta and headed North. They were captured by Confederate forces near Ringgold, Georgia.

The National Museum of Transportation is in Saint Louis, Missouri. It was founded in 1944. The museum has over seventy locomotives dating from the early 1800s. One of these steam powered locomotives is one of twenty-five manufactured by the American Locomotive Company and purchased by the Union Pacific Railroad. It is of the 4-8-4-8-4 Class and its number is #4006. This class of locomotive engine is considered the largest steam powered engine in the world. It is 132 feet nine ½ inches long and weighs six hundred tons. It is called “Big Boy.” During its in-service life, it travelled 1,064.625 miles-almost forty-three times the circumference of the globe. Only eight of the original twenty-five still exists.

When I put a puzzle together, I do a lot of research on what I see in the puzzle picture. During my research, I discovered a plethora of information on steam powered locomotives. This information includes the locomotive’s maker, how many each company made, the size and type of locomotive, the number associated with each engine, where it is currently located, and its condition today. Over the years, as these steam engines wore out or became outdated many of them were turned into scrap metal or converted to diesel powered engines. In Georgia there are a total of fifty steam powered locomotives. Only three of these are still operational and the rest are either being restored, stored, disassembled, dieselized, or on display.

Elmer Prather
Canton, Georgia
U S A

"Rounding the Horn" 1000pc puzzle by Ken Zylla