Jigsaw puzzles

Separate the color groups and the edge pieces.

I have a handful of liberty puzzles my mom has gifted me over the years.  They are by far my favorites and many of them don't lend to starting with edges.  I usually color code the pieces and pull out the unique shapes including one that has a dancing bear. 
 

I prefer not to look at the picture nor study it before hand.  I enjoy having the picture unfolding in front of me and like the extra challenge.    I had one non liberty puzzle that was just a color gradation and took me a second to get going but found my jam and started knocking it out.   I was a few lines from being done when the wife spilled a glass of water all over it and we ended up throwing it away.  Oh well. 
 

We have been doing a bunch of puzzles in recent months. We always do the edges first, and we do work from the picture. We just finished a 1000 of a jungle scene. All green. Took us a month of walking by and adding a few pieces each time.

zang you're so zen

i love that there are differing styles of execution here

have always been an edges guy, the color coding sounds like too much work!

i would need a fully pet free space to keep one casually around

wouldn't mind taking one on

I have a couple of friends who usually have a puzzle going, and I've gotten into the habit of giving them a challenging one for Christmas every year. Here's this year's 1000 piece design:

That's gorgeous, Mike, and looks challenging, indeed.

That one looks really difficult.

I usually organize the pieces by color until only the unremarkable ones are left. 

Then by shape.

I prefer not to look at the picture nor study it before hand.  I enjoy having the picture unfolding in front of me and like the extra challenge. <<<

I've seen an old friend post that she and her husband do this, and I was kind of blown away by the challenge and the notion of having the picture unfold!

I've been on a constant puzzle kick since most of covid (I'm guessing maybe 30-50).  I get them from the freebox in Telluride for free and the 2nd hand store for pets for a few bucks. 8 times out of 10 there's a missing piece(s).    I'll normally have at least one or two on deck so I can "alternate effectively"; such that after doing one like Mike's (which is hard), I'd shift to something a little easier with more distinct focal points, writing, etc.   Then back again to something more difficult.  Or, just alternate on the scenery type.

My strategy has evolved to where I first turn over all of the pieces while simultaneously grouping the edge pieces, as well as about 4+ other groups sorted by similar color or pattern.  Likewise, if there are any obvious unique focal points, I'll put those aside into their own pile.  Then put together the edges and any obvious low hanging fruit and expand from this.    I usually leave the piles of solid colors or same exact pattern to the end, then sort those by piece shape.  

Midstream on the latest ....

That's a good one face 

I've always studied the photo very intently and then work from the outside in kind of in a spiral pattern

my ocd would never tolerate the use of multiple free floating sections like that

no second hand puzzles ever, unless they're sealed!

>>>zang you're so zen

Just to be clear, the liberty puzzles don't make it easy to start with edges.   On more traditional puzzles I do edges first and then go full color sorting.   Thisis one of my favorites:

https://libertypuzzles.com/products/octopus-puzzle?variant=45243455701278

And sunshine daydream - check out the second image for the piece map and the ones below for a few of the individual pieces.

https://phillewisart.com/products/sunshine-daydream-puzzle?srsltid=AfmBO...

The other brand that I like recently are graymalin 

aw it's my fave castle

zang that's badass that you've got the knowledge

with 5 cats, puzzles are not a thing lolol

my wife does puzzles all the time, im not a fan of physical puzzles, my life/work is pulling puzzles of people and truckloads of stuff together and putting them together in some random spot...i cannot spend time on them outside of work...and really, you already know what the picture looks like and YOU KNOW all the pieces are there so, for me,  i am a little lost on why its a challenge