Tutorial - Storing Board Puzzles

We've had many a board puzzle in our house over the years.  In between kids and when we move we always seem to loose pieces.  So, I came up with a way to store these puzzles with their pieces without loosing anything!  This will work with any board puzzle with or without the little nubbins.  For puzzles without nubbins just cut the contact paper to size and stick down.

Materials Needed:
Board Puzzle
Contact Paper (any will do... I just have clear laying around so I used that)
Scissors

Step One:  Measure and cut your contact paper to just smaller than your puzzle top.  No photo here...

Step Two:  Starting in the middle of your puzzle, use your fingers to find your first nubbin and cut an X with your scissors.  Slide it down onto the nubbin.  Continue until you have cut all your X's for every nubbin.  Note that the contact paper is right side up!

Step Three:  Starting on on side remove the paper backing and press it down onto the board.

 

Step Four:  Admire your storable puzzle!!

Step Five:  When wanting to use the puzzle again just peel it off and play.

*Please note that my puzzles have been storing like this for about 6 months now and they are still pealing off just fine.  I'm not sure however how these would do for years on end.  I would suggest checking them every so often to ensure that they are pealing away without difficulty.  I also want to note that I've pealed some of this stuff off wooden drawer bottoms that has been stuck down for a decade without it injuring the wood at all... so I would think it wouldn't be any different with these puzzles.

Solstice Star Series - Block Along

Monday night I happened upon this blog post over on Fresh Lemons Quilt Blog.  What a pretty blog!  And, those star blocks are to die for!  Tuesday morning I started on the three blocks that were from previous weeks and was able to get them all finished.  This morning I refreshed the page and found that week 4's block was posted.  During Cael's nap I was able to finish that one.

Week One Block

 Week Two Block

I'm using all batiks with white as my background color.  I wanted to do a rainbow of colors on each star.  But, I was really surprised to find a total lack of yellows and oranges in my stash.  (the fabric show next month will be the prefect place to fix this problem!)  So, for those colors I'm fussy cutting some of my multicolored batiks.  So far I'm really happy with these.  I'm thinking it'll be a small quilt.  Goodness knows I don't want anything to difficult to quilt on my machine.  I am planning on adding some stars from her Summer Sampler as well.

Week Three Block

Week Four Block