Sewing Notions - Threading Our Way Through Life

by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

Did you know that September is National Sewing Month established by US President, Ronald Reagan back in 1982? As we kick off the first day of fall, we want to share Mr. Prather's "Sewing Notions" write up below. Our hope for you in the fall season is that you'll hold on to that sunny disposition of summer. There can be many obstacles in life in which we have to thread our way through whether it be a physical crowd, financial issues, emotional drain, physical pain, or other hindrances. It's not always easy to get that thread through the needle, and sometimes we need a little help from a needle threader or thimble. We hope in this fall season, you'll always know when to take time for yourself or lean on that threader and thimble. In reading through Mr. Prather's story, the word "community" came to mind. And we love how he said, "...she would allow me to..." - you'll see what we're talking about when you read it. But it just delighted us to no end that a young boy could see the value in sitting with an older group of women who were sewing up something beautiful. May you enter the fall season feeling encouraged. With that, we hope you enjoy reading Mr. Prather's story and leave believing that you can sew or mend anything in your life. Enjoy!

The puzzle pictured below is a 1000-piece puzzle titled, Sewing Notions by Shelley Davies. This is the third Shelly Davies puzzle I have put together. The other two were Shelley’s ABC and Timepieces.

Sewing Notions assembled & photographed by Elmer Prather

I must have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time putting it together. My connection to this puzzle is related to the sewing box my mother used when I was growing up. Her sewing box had an array of sewing items like the ones displayed in the puzzle. She could get that box out and find anything she needed for the mending or sewing task she had at hand. The puzzle displays sewing related items that range from several type thimbles, different colored sewing thread, several different type scissors, many assorted color and size buttons, sewing needles, measuring tapes, and pieces of cloth.

A small portion showing needle, needle threader, thimble, thread, buttons, counter, ribbon...

My mother raised seven children and I was the second oldest. I watched her many times with her sewing box open mending our clothes. As I watched her do this I learned how to sew and mend clothing.

When we were growing up, we lived in an old farmhouse. Mother had a quilting frame hanging from the ceiling in our living room. Mother made many quilts for all of us to stay warm on those chilly winter nights. When she got ready to make quilts, she would get all her material together, lower the quilting frame and enlist her mother, one or more of her sisters and a few of her friends to help her make quilts. The quilting frame would have plenty of room for eight people to sew at the same time.

When I was in my early teens, if one of the ladies was not able to help her with the quilts on any given day, she would allow me to sit in their chair and help sew those quilts. I learned a lot about life, sitting at that quilting frame listening to those women talk and tell stories of things that happened to them when they were growing up during the depression as well as all the current, local gossip.

This puzzle brought back many great memories of the times I helped my mother make quilts. This is a beautiful puzzle full of bright colors and interesting sewing paraphernalia. If someone had all the sewing items pictured in this puzzle, they could sew or mend anything.

Elmer Prather
Canton, Georgia
U S A

BUNDLES & DEALS

Sewing Notions 1000pc by Shelley Davies

Fall kicks off in the northern hemisphere on 09.22.2022, so for the remainder of September, "Sewing Notions" and any Cobble Hill puzzle on our website is 22% off. Be sure to shop in Canada or the USA depending on your location and use this coupon code at checkout:  SEWLIFE

And if you've really got the fall feels, check out our bundles for more savings.

Cobble Hill Boxes Through the Years

In late 2018, Cobble Hill started including reference posters in the 2000 piece, 1000 piece, 500 piece and Easy Handling 275 piece puzzles. A couple years after that, we started to include the reference posters in our Family Pieces 350 puzzles as well. However, from time to time, our Customer Care team still gets requests to please include posters in the boxes. To help people understand which puzzle boxes include a reference poster, we created this video. 

We have some changes coming down the road again and we'll be sure to update you as soon as we've finalized all the details. So, stay tuned and subscribe below for the latest news!

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The History of "History of Photography"

 by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

I must have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time putting it together. My connection to this puzzle is that I really love photography. I love photography so much that several years ago a friend, who lived in my community and I established a photo club. There are approximately 1700 residents in our subdivision and many of them were interested in photography. We held monthly meetings in which we discussed cameras and how to use them to take quality photos that tell a story to its viewers. We organized semiannual photo club field trips to nearby locations to teach our members how to take photos of interesting subjects and objects that resulted in professional quality photos.

This puzzle has a chronological timetable of cameras which spans from 1830 to 2020. The puzzle displays these different cameras and gives a short narrative on each of them. In 1826, Frenchman Joseph Niece took the first permanent photographic etching using a camera obscura, a box with a hole in one side which utilized light from an external scene. He was one of the first pioneers of photography. In 1840, Henry Fox Talbot invented the Calotype camera. This process used paper covered with silver iodide. In1871, Dr. Richard L. Maddox invented the Gelatin or Dry Plate photographic process. This involved the coating of glass photographic plates with a light sensitive gelatin emulsion and allowed them to dry prior to use. In 1880 the Kodak camera started using paper film and moved on to Celluloid.

1000 piece "History of Photography" assembled & photographed by Elmer Prather

By the 1900s Kodak introduced the Brownie camera which made photography much more affordable. It was a small and simple box camera. When I was in my early teens, my family owned one of these Brownie cameras. It required a roll of 620 film. One roll took twelve black and white pictures. Had we not had this camera, I would not have the photos that document how my family and friends looked in their earlier years. The purchase price for our Brownie camera was less than $10. What an investment. One of the pictures I most cherish is of my mother being baptized by her Baptist minister in a small lake near our home when she was around 35 years old.

In 1948, the Polaroid L and Model 95 camera was born, bringing this exciting technology to the hands of the consumer. The original model uses specially designed rolls of film, which enabled the image to be developed inside the camera. It then took just a minute or so before the photographer could print the photo.

I have owned expensive cameras that required 35 mm rolls of film and inexpensive digital cameras that use memory cards. Today’s cameras are amazing pieces of technology. In my lifetime cameras have evolved from the Kodak Brownie camera to digital cameras that can take professional quality photos. As camera technology evolves cameras will continue to improve.

Elmer Prather
Canton, Georgia
U S A

"History of Photography" 1000 piece by Cobble Hill Creation (in house design team)

This puzzle is a part of our Infographic themed puzzles where you get a collage and a timeline to learn more about the subject. We have many of these in our Fine Arts category and we hope you enjoy them. Thank you for reading our latest blog from one of our favourite puzzlers, Mr. Prather!

Good Ol' Apple Green Chevy and Best Friends

 by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

This is the 58th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 500-piece puzzle titled, "Let's Go Fishing" by Greg & Company. I really like his puzzles; I have put nine other puzzles of his together. Those other puzzles are Blue Truck Farm, Deerfield, Summer Afternoon on the Farm, Cozy Fireplace, Welcome to the Lake House, Hooked on Fishing, Sheep Field, Summer Truck and Happy Hen House.

I must have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time putting it together. My connection to this puzzle is the beautiful Apple Green Chevrolet pickup truck sitting at the edge of a lake with its owner’s golden, chocolate, and black Labrador dogs in the bed of the truck. The truck is, I believe, a 1938 model.

"Let's Go Fishing" 500pc assembled by Elmer Prather

I fell in love with this puzzle because of the truck. The Apple Green paint on the truck reached out and grabbed me. I fell in love with old trucks when I was a teenager. When I was 16 years old, I saw a 1936 Chevrolet truck parked beside an old barn near my home. I stopped and asked if the truck was for sale and when it was, I purchased it for $50.00. That was a lot of money for a teenager but it was one of the best vehicle purchases I have made. I have owned five other trucks since then but I still have many fond memories of that old truck. It was special; it was like a member of our family. I expect that the truck in this puzzle picture is held in the same esteem by its owner because of its pristine condition; it still looks new.

Along with putting puzzles together I have a passion for photography. When I take a picture, I try to capture the story I see through the camera’s lens. A good picture tells the story of what the camera sees and what the photographer imagined when he clicked his camera’s shutter. When I look closely at the picture displayed in this puzzle it tells a story of an angler who loves his old truck and his dogs. He has his trusting dogs posing for a picture he is taking of them. You can imagine that this is what is happening because of the expressions on their faces. He has finished fishing because his tackle box and his rods and reels are sitting beside the truck. He was fishing for largemouth bass because I see what looks like a yellow sally fishing lure laying on the top shelf of his tackle box. He has changed from his muddy fishing boots to other shoes because he does not want to drive his truck home wearing those muddy boots that are sitting on the bed of his truck. He took this picture at just the right moment because he was able to capture the image of the man sailing his boat on the lake in front of his truck, the blue heron, the Canadian geese and the two American Goldfinch birds flying over and beside the truck. He took this picture at just the right time of day to be able to catch the clear blue sky with the cumulus clouds floating along. In the photography world, this is what is known as a Kodak moment.

"Let's Go Fishing" 500 piece by artist Greg Giordano

Commentary: How many of us really stop to investigate our puzzle and put as much thought and consideration into the scene as Mr. Prather? We applaud him for this write up and for taking the time to truly appreciate what Greg Giordano has captured with this picturesque image. Thank you!

Perseverance Pays Off! 100 Famous Views of Edo.

by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

If you follow our blog, then you know that Mr. Prather enjoys rich history and he has to have some connection to the puzzles that he chooses to assemble. He's very generous with sharing his life experiences with us when a puzzle image stirs up a memory. His latest puzzle did not get assembled with ease. As you can imagine, 2000 pieces is a challenge when one mainly does 1000 pieces - that's double the pieces and they're even smaller, which means one gets less of the image per piece. Mr. Prather had communicated with us a few times about the challenges with this puzzle and we understood completely. He even put the puzzle away for some time to work on other things. It seems that little break did wonders because he told us he was starting it up again and next thing we know, it's complete!! We were so proud of his efforts and how much he persevered to get this one done. He knew it was a beautiful puzzle and we think he was motivated to see it fully assembled. We're very excited that he is able to share his finished puzzle with us and in his usual fashion, he did some research so that he could share some history behind this beautiful puzzle. Please enjoy his story ... 

This is the 57th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 2000-piece puzzle titled 100 Famous Views of Edo. I must have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time putting it together and my connection to this puzzle is my love for beautiful Japanese artwork. When I first saw a picture of the puzzle, I was drawn to the beautiful woodblock prints displayed in the puzzle.

Mr. Prather's assembled 100 Famous Views of Edo 2000pc puzzle!

Woodblock prints such as the ones depicted in the puzzle were produced in large numbers in 18th and 19th century Japan by artists, block cutters and printers working independently via the instructions of specialist publishers. Woodblock prints are made by artisans using chisels and carving knives to gouge the fine details into the woodblock. After the design was engraved in the wood and the inks or dyes are added, the image would be transferred onto a paper or textile surface. Woodblock prints such as these were called ukiyo-e, which means 'pictures of the floating world'. This world was one of transient delights and changing fashions centered on the licensed pleasure districts and popular theatres found in major cities of Japan.

This series of woodblock prints, as created by Utagawa Hiroshige, born Ando Tokutaro, (1797-1858), does not consist of only these one hundred designs in the puzzle. It rather consists of 118 designs plus a title page. The designs represent the four seasons - spring, summer, autumn and winter. Some books and websites categorize the designs by these four seasons.

Edo was a city in Japan that existed from 1603 until 1868. The city of Edo was formed by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. The city formerly known as Edo is now Tokyo. Edo in English translates to bay entrance.

From the 1860s Japanese woodblock prints became a source of inspiration for many Western artists. One of the artisans influenced by this artwork was Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh possessed twelve prints from Hiroshige’s series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. Van Gogh admired the techniques of Japanese artists, and these prints were influential to his artistic development. One or more of the following features can be found in several of Van Gogh’s paintings from his Antwerp period onward. Some of these features were their distinctive cropping of their compositions, bold assertive outlines, uniform color, and lighting along with their emphasis on decorative patterns.  

Cobble Hill's Van Gogh collage with a timeline - do you see the Japanese influence?

The 100 woodblock prints displayed in this puzzle are beautiful. They help tell the story of life in 1800s Edo.

Is That A Bear There?

by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

This is the 56th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 500-piece puzzle titled, Den Dreams. For me to spend the time and energy putting puzzles together, I must have a connection with the puzzle. My connection with this puzzle is both the bear and the apples.

Den Dreams 500 piece puzzle by Greg Alexander

I live in Canton, Georgia USA the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Bears are known to come down out of the mountains searching for food. I live in a subdivision in the city limits of Canton. One spring day, several years ago, I was working in my back yard and suddenly, I noticed a movement over my right shoulder. When I turned around, I was face to face with a black bear. He stared at me for a second or two then sprinted out of my yard and back into the woods. I am into photography, so I ran back into my basement and grabbed my camera and headed after the bear. I was not able to locate him, but I will never forget my encounter with him. We probably frightened each other because I was not expecting him, and I do not think he was expecting me.

Den Dreams finished puzzle assembled by Elmer Prather

As far as the apples shown in the puzzle, the next county north of me is Gilmer County which is famous for all its apple orchards. Each year for almost 50 years the Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce has sponsored the North Georgia Apple Festival.  The Apple Festivals are held during two weekends in October. These festivals have over 300 vendors selling handmade items such as jewelry, pottery, toys, soap, candles, baskets and many other items. The festivals have over 35 food concession vendors serving food to the attendees and workers. Fifty thousand people attended this festival last year.

The title of this puzzle, Den Dreams, makes me think that the puzzle artist imagined that the bear featured in the apple orchard was having dreams about gorging itself on apples. Bears add additional fat to their bodies in the fall to see them through their winter hibernation. Apples ripen from August until December and this bear is probably planning on having a few in his preparation for winter.

Elmer Prather
Canton, GA USA

Preserving Your Puzzle: How to Frame It

We get quite a few inquiries from puzzlers asking if we sell frames. Unfortunately, we do not. Luckily, there are companies out there who specialize in framing! One of our customers, a family run business, ACMS (Advanced Craft Making Solutions), has sent us some amazing photos of their puzzle framing and we just had to share! 

Here is the final result of what one can expect from framing their puzzle with ACMS or purchasing a ready made framed puzzle. We think the "Backyard Butterflies" 500 piece puzzle turned out beautiful in this rich wooden frame. Let's look at some photos of the easy step by step process as recounted from their owner, Christian Magro.

"Backyard Butterflies" 500pc framed by ACM Solutions

Frames come with a 1/4” thick Mounting Board….if you purchase the frame package then you can actually use the mounting board to do your puzzle. Your puzzle simply sits on top of the board….no gluing required of course.

Now you have an 1/8” thick puzzle ring….the ring is hidden in the rabbet of the frame. This ring is made 1/16” bigger (1/32” on all sides)….this accounts for a little wiggle room.

Then you place the acrylic cover over everything….now everything is perfectly aligned and held nicely in place.

Now you just take the frame and place it over everything….again…perfect alignment and quick. Then you grab the entire frame…flip it over and rotate the turn buttons to secure it all.

Framing your puzzle takes about 1-2 minutes!

Here is the final product! Looks great!

We are not affiliates with ACMS, they're simply a neat customer of ours who has taken the love of puzzles and shared with us how they preserve these works of art. If you have any questions about the framing, please get in touch with their office. You can visit their website, here: https://acms-shops.com/

Christian did give us some notes in case you're interested in learning more:

• Some frames have mats and some don’t
• Frame finish is fully customizable to suit your décor (you might want a black frame instead of wood tone)
• Cobble Hill is the only puzzle available in our puzzle bundles
• We make puzzle frames of all shapes and sizes beyond our puzzle frames
• A lot of their clients are older and message how simple it was to frame their puzzle

They also have a very well done video of how they do the framing seen above. You can go to their website by clicking the image below or this link to watch the short video. And if you want to follow them on social media, you can find them on Facebook and/or Instagram.