Elmer Prather Celebrates 50 Cobble Hill Puzzles!

 by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

Elmer Prather is from Canton, GA and he has been writing about his Cobble Hill puzzle experience for several years. Our relationship initially started when he contacted us about a missing piece from his Hot Hot Sauce puzzle. Over the years, our customer with a missing piece became a great friend. He only assembles puzzles that stir up feelings in him from his life experience and then he shares a memory or piece of history with us. It has been a distinct honour having him share his stories, we hope you have enjoyed them all. And he's so clever to have saved this "50 States Quilt Blocks" for his 50th Cobble Hill puzzle! We hope you enjoy seeing it assembled and hearing his thoughts.

This is the 50th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 1000-piece puzzle titled “50 States Quilt Blocks”. It displays a quilt square for each of the 50 states in the United States of America.

50 State Quilt Blocks 1000pc. Photo & assembly by Elmer Prather.

The reason I chose this puzzle is because I love quilts. This is the third Cobble Hill quilt puzzle that I have completed. (You can read about Crazy Quilt and Fruit Basket Quilt, here).

As I was putting it together, I wondered if these quilt blocks were official state quilt blocks and if there was such a thing. I found that each state has its own official quilt, much like a state bird or flower designation. The first state quilt blocks came from the Hearth and Home magazine. Their readers throughout the country were asked to contribute cloth quilt blocks to represent their individual states The readers responded to this request and pictures of the selected quilt blocks appeared in monthly issues of the Hearth and Home magazine until the series ended in 1912. In 1912 we did not have 50 states but each of the states in the union at that time had an official quilt thanks to the readers of the Hearth and Home magazine.

I have always loved quilting. When I was in my pre-teens, my mother, grandmother and aunts would get together at our house and make quilts. I guess that would have been a Quilting Bee. There was always plenty of room for all the quilters around the quilting frame, so my mother gave me a needle, thread and a thimble and let me help them sew the quilts. I learned a lot by listening to them tell stories. The stories they told were very interesting to a young boy. I learned a lot about life and people from those women. I would not take anything for the experience.   

I have toured the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. It is an art museum that exhibits fiber art and quilting from around the world. The museum is recognized by USA Today as one of the world's top quilt displays. This textile museum supports local and expert quilters by providing workshops and other educational activities.

50 States Quilt Blocks by Cobble Hill Creations
Available at your local retailer

P.S. Mr. Prather does have a 48th and 49th puzzle write up that we'll be sharing later this month!

Welcome to the Lake House - A Summer Retreat!

 by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

This is the 47th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 1000 piece puzzle titled “Welcome To The Lake House” by Greg Giordano. This is the seventh puzzle I have put together by this artist. The other six are Summer Truck, Sheep Field, Blue Truck Farm, Deer Field, Summer Truck on the Farm and Spring Bird House.

Before I spend the time putting a puzzle together, I have to have a connection with it. In other words, I enjoy putting together puzzles that mean something to me, something that I can relate to. The cabin depicted in the puzzle reminded me of the cabin on the lake that one of my friends rented for our hunting and fishing club to use. Over the years I spent a lot of time there sitting on the porch overlooking the lake. Those quiet times were special to me.

Welcome to the Lake House Assembled by Elmer Prather

This puzzle reflects a welcoming scene of a modern cabin that sits on a lake highlighting the good life at the lake. The two dogs, a black Labrador and a yellow Labrador, seem to be waiting in eager anticipation for their master to come and play with them. The late afternoon sun is reflecting its rays across the lake presenting a beautiful sunset.

The owners have made the cabin a relaxing place to read, watch the wildlife and enjoy the lake. The floral arrangements add vibrant colors to the cabin porch. The accessories like snow shoes hanging on the cabin wall and an old kerosene lantern with two black-capped chickadees sitting on either side hanging from one of the support beams blend well with the other interesting objects depicted in the puzzle. The wooden Adirondack chairs on the dock invite you to sit and enjoy all of the beauty surrounding the cabin and the lake. I really enjoyed seeing the puzzle come to life as I was putting it together. Once you start looking at the finished puzzle you will find it difficult to take your eyes off of it. 

Welcome to the Lake House 1000 pc by Greg Giordano 

Thanks to Mr. Prather for another great write up! If you'd like to enjoy Welcome to the Lake House yourself, please visit the link on our website to support a local retailer or online store.

A Magical Puffin Encounter

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

This is the 46th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 500 piece puzzle entitled “Fisherman's Wharf” by Carl Benders. Before I spend the time putting a puzzle together, I have to have a connection with it. In other words, I enjoy putting together puzzles that mean something to me, something to which I can relate.

Fisherman's Wharf 500pc by artist Carl Benders

This puzzle of three beautiful puffins just caught my eye. I have had the pleasure of seeing puffins in the wild. Once, on a cruise to Alaska, I saw a group of four puffins floating on a block of ice beside our ship in Glacier Bay. As they were floating along beside the ship, the Captain was repositioning it in order for the passengers to be able to watch the glaciers calve. As the Captain was moving the ship, the crew provided guests with coffee and hot tea. It was a wonderful experience, drinking coffee while sitting on the deck watching the puffins float away. They did not seem to have a care in the world.

In the puzzle picture below, you can see why the puffins are widely regarded as the cutest birds on earth. I have to agree with that description. With their black and white plumage and large orange beaks, I was not able to take my eyes off them. After they drifted off, I was finally able to watch the glaciers calve. Watching the puffins and seeing the glaciers calve was an amazing sight that I will never forget.

Fisherman's Wharf assembled by Elmer Prather

Since my puffin encounter, I have learned a lot about puffins. They mature in about five years and they mate for life. The female lays one egg each year and both the male and female sit on the egg until it hatches. Both parents feed the baby puffin, sometimes having to fly quite a distance to find small fish to bring back.

Unlike most other birds, puffins do not build nests. They burrow into the ground for about three feet with their beaks and feet. Puffins have a long life span. They usually live for over 20 years. Unlike their cousins, the penguins, puffins can fly. They have been clocked flying over 55 miles per hour.

I really enjoyed putting this puzzle together. As I was finishing putting it together, the puffins seemed to come alive and all three of them appeared to be looking for another passing cruise ship to watch.

Hurry Up! It's Speed Puzzling Time!

We acknowledge up front that for some people, the idea of plowing through a puzzle is the complete opposite view of why one does a puzzle. A lot of people enjoy puzzles because they want to take their time, slow down, and destress. Racing against another puzzler to complete their puzzle faster is not in line with the concept of peaceful puzzling.

However, speed puzzling competitions are a lot of fun and there's even a major event that happens every year in Valladolid, Spain! It's the World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship where individuals, pairs and teams of four compete to be the swiftest at completing the same puzzle image as everyone else. Can you imagine flying to Spain for a tournament of this stature? Wouldn't that be a dream?

Depending on where you live, it could also be expensive. Insert frowny face.

While less dreamy, you could still participate in a speed puzzling competition from the comfort of your own home! We're working with Jonathan, host of SpeedPuzzling.com, to bring Cobble Hill puzzles to the competition table. Origami Animals 500 piece puzzle was used in June 2021 and the winner finished in an impressive 42:19! Congratulations, Sarah! We're happy for all the players and think everyone did a great job with this one!

SpeedPuzzling.com players compete with Cobble Hill Origami Animals 500 piece

Just a side note - you may know the winner, Sarah, as @SarahDoesPuzzles on Instagram.  She, along with @BizzlesPuzzles both started a Puzzle Pals Choice Awards last year where Cobble Hill was humbled to be nominated as Best Puzzle Brand in Traditional cardboard puzzles (we were honoured to lose to Ravensburger). It will be an annual event, so keep your eyes out for their next one. There is so much going on in the world of puzzles, we hope you join in on the fun!

If you're interested in joining a speed puzzling competition, we recommend signing up! In case you're not sure how you'll do, you can always test it out by timing yourself. We recommend starting with a 500 piece or less competition before jumping into a 1000 piece. A great way to get involved is to join the Facebook SpeedPuzzling group! Maybe you'll turn into a competitive puzzler?

Stay tuned for more details by following us on Facebook and Instagram!

Below is the puzzle that everyone enjoyed, Origami Animals.

Origami Animals 500 piece by our Cobble Hill Creations team

What Time is It? Pie, Donut, and Cupcake Time!

It's always the perfect time when we're talking about sweet treats like donuts, cupcakes, and pies, right? But even better are the kind that don't have any calories and come equipped with funny quotes. Today we want to tell you about Cobble Hill's latest quote puzzles for 2021: Pie Time, Cupcake Time, and Donut Time. These puzzles are full of fun images styled in a collage with funny quotes about the theme. 

Cobble Hill started creating themed puzzles with quotes a few years ago starring animals, like Cat Quotes, Dog Quotes, and Chicken Quotes; they were wildly popular. Can you guess which of the three animal quotes puzzles is the best seller? We'll tell you at the end of this article!

Each puzzle is designed in-house by our Cobble Hill Creations team. They curate all the images and find the funniest quotes to create an ensemble that will delight you.  Since the puzzles are themed, it makes it easy to gift these puzzles to family and friends or just enjoy them all to yourself! The new 2021 puzzles have been received very well by puzzlers, but not surprisingly, Donut Time is the favourite. However, one of my favourite quotes comes from Cupcake Time.  You can see a close up of this puzzle with a few funny quotes. I like, "Cupcakes are muffins that believed in miracles."

On our Instagram Story, we ran a poll to see if people agreed with that statement, and it got a solid 84%.  Muffins are pretty delicious too, so we understand why it didn't get 100%.  Admittedly, I prefer muffins over cupcakes myself, but I just think the quote is funny. 

How would you have voted on our Instagram Poll?

If you would like to see other infographic and quote puzzles, please visit our website and you'll find all of them under the Shop by Theme->Infographic link. To see more details of the new sweet treat puzzles, we recommend visiting Linda Richard's Jigsaw Puzzle Hobby website to read the reviews. She always has great photos with close ups of the puzzle and even shares her sorting method with you.  If you visit the Pie Time review first, then you can see what the assembled puzzle looks like next to Donut Time and Cupcake Time, which she also assembled. If you would like to buy any of these puzzles, visit the Jigsaw Puzzle Hobby Amazon page or shop with one of our retailers!

And lastly, we wanted to mention that Horse Quotes was also part of the animal quotes series when we first launched them. But surprisingly, it did not sell as well, so we discontinued it. And for the answer of which one is most popular, it's Chicken Quotes! Did you guess Dog Quotes? That's second. Thanks, and please share your Cobble Hill puzzles on our Instagram or Facebook page.

Succulents and Cacti - No Nurturing Necessary

Growing plants has many benefits and rewards, but these beauties of nature require quite a bit of time and care. If your working schedule is packed and you can't spare a few hours on a  daily basis, growing succulents and cacti may be perfect for you. They've certainly become a popular subject matter for jigsaw puzzles. You'll find some of the ones that we discuss below featured in our puzzles. 

There are hundreds of zero-maintenance succulents and cactus types, and today we’ll talk about a few, but first let’s go over the most dominant types.

Aloe

Aloe succulents are known to possess numerous medical properties; Aloe vera is arguably the most popular representative of this type, although each sub-group is different than the next in terms of size, required care, and looks.

Some of the most notable Aloe plants are the elegant Black Beauty, the petite Crosby’s Prolific, the Doran Black, which actually has white flowers, the prickly Hellskloof Bells, and Torch Aloe while the Christmas Carol arguably has the most beautiful flower.

Aloe plants are fairly resistant to hot temperatures and high humidity. Room temperature is perfect for them (around 24 C), although they won’t mind an ambient below 15 C either. They should be watered deeply and infrequently. Watering them once every second-third week during springtime should be enough while they need even less water come autumn and winter.

In terms of lighting, they’re best kept in bright places while exposing them to direct sunlight should be avoided. But, it's okay to put one next to a study lamp! And they look gorgeous next to cute pups too!

"Yorkies Are My Type" shedding a little lamp light on aloe

Haworthia

The gorgeous aloe lookalikes, Haworthia plants are easy to care for and are exceptionally popular plants among home gardeners. Even though they’re typically between 3-5 inches tall, some could grow as big as 20 inches; even the largest Haworthia plants can be kept indoors.

These plants require very little amounts of water and can grow to be healthy under most conditions as far as moisture and lighting are of concern. They shouldn’t be exposed to direct sunlight, though. They are ideally grown in potting soil mixed with either pumice or perlite.

One of the reasons why this is an ideal “care-free” plant is that it isn’t particularly phased by any type of humidity. It does, however, need good ventilation.

Some of the most popular Haworthia plant types are the tiny Mutica and Star Cactuses; the Haowrthiopsis Concolor resembles Aloe Black Beauty while Reinwardtii requires the least maintenance. And Haworthia Fastigiata is well known as Zebra Cactus.

Can you spot the Haworthia Fastigiata in "Terrarium Cat"?

Echeveria

Echeveria sub-groups are very diverse and almost completely dissimilar when compared to one another. They vary in terms of size, color, structure, and required maintenance, although the vast majority of types can easily endure harsh weather and temperatures.

Although there are dozens of Echeveria species, the famed Black Prince, Afterglow, Gorgon’s Grotto, Neon Breakers, and Lola are among the most popular ones, all of which can easily be grown either indoors or outdoors.

Curly Locks may be the most famous winter Echeveria. It can survive temperatures that are slightly below zero, although it’s not particularly cold-hardy. Like most Echeveria plants, it requires water when the soil totally dries out; it welcomes full sun, although it will grow healthily even when kept in the shade.

A lot of wonderful cacti and succulents in "Succulent Garden"

Opuntia

The most famous family of cacti is Opuntia. All species of Opuntia have arms shaped like paddles and are remarkably resistant to extreme temperatures. Furthermore, the fruits of the vast majority of Opuntias are edible and surprisingly tasty and nutritious.

Party Favor, Pink Forst and Pina Colada have bright red, pinkish flowers with dark green leaves while Texas Prickly Pear and Black-spined Prickly Pear have dark-red, almost purplish fruits and slightly warmer-colored leaves. 

The only Opuntia species that bears little semblance to other groups is Opuntia Microdasys Albata, which is more commonly called Angel Wings (or Bunny Ears). Its pads are a bit wider and rounder, completely covered in petite spines, and they’re a bit more difficult to handle. Additionally, they’re the only species of Opuntia that can’t survive temperatures below 7 degrees Celsius.

Mammillaria

Mammillaria succulents are among the most common gifts due to their small size and gorgeous outlook. These cacti can basically sustain themselves with a bare minimum of water, and they don’t mind temperatures below zero.

Although there aren’t many sub-groups of Mammillaria, they’re distinctly different from each other and have different requirements.

The Ladyfinger Cactus is generally favored by beginner gardeners, as it can’t grow beyond 12 inches, it can endure temperatures below 6 degrees Celsius, and it can be put anywhere.

Mammillaria Gracilis Gragilis, otherwise known as the Thimble Cactus normally grows in small clusters. Its spines are petite, but sharp nonetheless. Although it’s not cold-hardy per se, the Thimble Cactus can withstand freezing temperatures with ease.

One of the most gorgeous Mammillaria types is the Feather Cactus, which was named for its beautiful white ‘feathers’ (flowers). Its spines resemble spring dandelions, although they’re as sharp as those of any other cacti.

Feather Cactus needs at least a quarter of a day’s worth of sunlight and is considered the most demanding Mammillaria type, but even so, it’s remarkably easy to care for and grow indoors.

Finally, the Rainbow Pincushion is a tiny cactus plant that boasts superior resistance to cold (can endure temperatures down to –17 degrees Celsius). As stunningly beautiful as it is prickly, this Mammillaria is a very popular representative of its genus.

If taking care of cacti or succulents feels overwhelming, find peace in using your green thumb to take care of these puzzle plants.

Better Than Alphabet Soup! A Review of Shelley's ABC 2000 Piece Puzzle

by Elmer Prather, guest blogger

This is the 45th Cobble Hill puzzle I have had the pleasure of putting together. It is a 2000 piece puzzle titled Shelley's ABC by Shelley Davies. This is the second Shelley Davies puzzle I have put together. The first was a 1000 piece puzzle titled Timepieces. The reason I chose this puzzle was because I saw it would be a challenge and would be a beautiful puzzle to hang on my puzzle wall. This puzzle is a MEGA 3D puzzle. It is a collage of hundreds of numbers, alphabet letters and miscellaneous objects she included in the puzzle layout. I am also into photography and as such I have made many collages but nothing as complex as this.

This was a complicated puzzle to put together, therefore I had to rethink my approach several times before I was able to complete it. It took a lot of thought to put each of the puzzle pieces in its proper place. With the hundreds of items in the puzzle, there were few opportunities to do much piece grouping. It was simply pick up a piece, look at the reference picture, find the location where it belonged and place it on the spot. I got excited the closer I came to finishing it it because I could see how good it was going to look when finished.

Progress Photo of 2000 pc Shelley's ABC by Elmer Prather

I love to put challenging puzzles together and this one certainly fit the bill. Ms. Davies inserted hundreds of large and small items in the puzzle with random placement except for the alphabet letters she inserted. These letters, being in alphabetical order, helped me find the general location a particular puzzle piece belonged. I could never have put it together without the reference poster that is inserted in all Cobble Hill puzzles.

I was fascinated by the vast assortment of letters and words in the puzzle. There were numerous alphabet letters, some small case, some large case. Some letters were in circles, some were partially hidden by being placed in a larger subject piece.

When I opened the puzzle and started putting it together I felt overwhelmed but like I stated earlier, I love challenging puzzles. I took my time and did not get in a hurry. I just worked on it a little at the time and it finally started to take shape and then it was finished.

It is a beautiful puzzle. The purples, pinks, greens, oranges and all of the other colors come together to make it stand out and will cause anyone who views it to take notice and admire it.