Full Steam Ahead With Lumbering Along

by guest blogger, Elmer Prather

My latest Cobble Hill puzzle is a one-thousand-piece puzzle titled Lumbering Along by Mike Bennett. This is the third Mike Bennett puzzle I have put together. The other two were Santa Fe 3751 and Southern Pacific.

Lumbering Along assembled & photographed by Elmer Prather

I must have a connection with a puzzle before I spend the time putting it together. This puzzle displays a steam engine pulling a load of timber from the mountains in the background. The location of this train must be Colorado because the mountains are the front range of the Rocky Mountains with the stands of Aspen trees displaying their bright yellow Fall leaves shown in the puzzle.

This puzzle reminded me of the time I coordinated a trip to Colorado with five of my close friends and family. Our main objective was to take a steam engine powered railroad trip from Durango to Silverton. We started in Denver, Colorado and on our way to Durango we stopped at several old mining towns: Georgetown, Breckenridge, and Fair Play, Colorado. These old western towns built near the gold and silver mines supplied food and merchandise to the miners.

When we arrived in Durango I arranged for a steam engine powered train trip from Durango, Colorado to Silverton. This railroad track was constructed in the 1800s to carry gold and silver from the mines in Silverton to Durango and on to the U S mint in Denver. This track today ferries tourists from Durango to Silverton and back.

Since it was mid-September when we made this trip, the weather was still comfortable so we carried clothes that we thought would keep us warm. We spent the first night in Durango and the next morning we discovered that it had snowed during the night and was still snowing. There was about three inches of snow on the ground. We put on the warmest clothes we had but were still shivering when we left the Chevrolet Suburban we had rented for the trip and walked to the train for boarding. I had arranged for tickets on the open-air rail car not knowing it would be snowing during our trip. It snowed on us all the way to Silverton.

We toured Silverton and had lunch in one of the quaint cafes on Main Street. That afternoon it stopped snowing, and we boarded the train for our return trip to Durango.

When we left Durango, we drove to Mesa Verde National Park where the Pueblo Native Americans had built massive dwellings in the cliffs. When we left there, we headed for Leadville, Colorado then on to Ouray, Colorado and then drove back to Denver. We spent the night in Denver and caught a plane back to our respective homes around Atlanta, Georgia, having toured much of the state of Colorado.

When I put a puzzle together, I try to understand how and why the image was presented as it was. What was the artist thinking? What statement was the artist trying to make. A picture tells a story and I want to know what that story is trying to tell me as I put the puzzle together. I did some research on the steam powered locomotive displayed in this puzzle. The locomotive depicted in this puzzle had a #2 posted on the front of the engine and on the door of the engine cab. I found that the serial number for the steam locomotive pictured in the puzzle was #1240. It was one of the 625 steam powered locomotives built by Heisler Locomotive between 1892 and 1943. The steam powered locomotive depicted in this puzzle has been retired and is located on a farm in Freeport, Illinois. It has lost its beautiful blue color but still looks great in its black patina.

Lumbering Along 1000pc by artist Mike Bennett

We hope you enjoyed Mr. Prather's story. He has a lot of history and life experience that we always find a pleasure to read about. Thank you! 

P.S. We got a fun fact message from the artist, Mike Bennett. He appreciated Mr. Prather's review, as do we. And we love how Mr. Prather investigates and researches to try and figure out what the puzzle image may be based off of. It turns out that Mr. Bennett had some real life visuals! We'll share the links below if you're interested in learning more about this specific puzzle he created.  This is the link to the story of the train and this is the link to his sketches of the train. While Mr. Prather's uncovering of locomotive #2 may not be for this one - it exists out there and we had fun going on his journey!

This puzzle is also a part of our new bundle offering for trains. You can view it here for Canada or here for the USA. And to stay up to date on our news and deals, please subscribe below. 

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Bundle Up for Autumn Weather

Whether you call it Fall or Autumn, it's time to bundle up for cooler weather. Yes, we're talking about sweater weather, but we're also talking about our favourite thing - puzzles!

To help our puzzlers get the most bang for their buck, we have bundled up puzzles in themes to help you save money so you can collect more of your favourite pastime. Every bundle that we offer gives you one free puzzle. You can expect to see different bundle offerings with new holidays or celebrations. Right now, we have a few fall favourites available in different piece counts, so we highly recommend taking advantage of those while they last. We were going to take down the Cottage Collection since summer ended, but it remains quite popular still - so if you're interested in those, grab them before we swap them out.

Fall 500s (visit our website, we have 1000pc bundle too)

And seeing as how we're talking about weather, let's talk Elements - the Elements Collection by Shelley Davies. Water, Earth, Fire Air - sounds like we're talking about Avatar The Last Airbender tv show, but we're talking about the four 1000 piece puzzles with a seamless vertical alignment that create one bold collage. There are a lot of fun objects to discover once the puzzles are completed. If you haven't participated in an Elements event, we highly recommend adding these to your collection! 

We've also recently added one of our popular artists - Diane Dempsey! If you're a planner and want to think ahead to the Christmas and winter season, then we highly recommend snagging this deal right now. It includes three winter puzzles, as well as her Mid-Century Modern Dream Home architectural theme, which has a seasonal vibe. The other three are: Vintage Main Street, Mid-Mod Seasons Greetings (which was a Zulily exclusive), and Christmas Campers - all 1000 pieces. We'll be adding other Christmas bundles as we get closer, so we can't promise this deal will stay online.

If you know a train lover, then we highly recommend our latest giftable bundle. It's a buy four get one more deal, so you'll be setting up that train fan in your life to go full steam ahead with jigsaw puzzles! It includes puzzles from amazing artists like Mark Keathley, Mike Bennett, and Ken Zylla. 

If there are bundles that you think we should offer, then feel free to reach out and post on our new Facebook group - Quirky Together! It's a place where we celebrate the Cobble Hill puzzles and the quirky pieces that we all love. 

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.