When I started this newsletter, I promised it would be an occasional newsletter, as I know myself well enough not to commit to any particular timeframe. My dear husband brought Covid to us from a conference at Thanksgiving and by the time we recovered, Christmas was upon us. Now it’s February and I’m finally getting my next newsletter out. Occasional it is!

A Conversation with Joe Seymour

Italics are Joe’s words. All mistakes are mine.

Joe Seymour is a puzzle cutter under the name Deb Qua Puzzles and collector who has held leadership positions in both AGPI and the Puzzle Parley. He also has the distinction of being the only one who has participated in every Pagey Elliot Puzzle Exchange (PEPE) at the Puzzle Parley. He was even exchanging puzzles before PEPE was officially created. He has about 80 puzzles from the exchange. Joe doesn’t sell his puzzles, so if you want one, and you’re a puzzle maker, I advise signing up for the PEPE this year.

Joe’s first puzzle memory is working wooden puzzles during the winter in upstate NY where he grew up. He continued to work all kinds of puzzles (mechanical, crossword, sudoku and jigsaw) as an adult. He prefers puzzles under 500 pieces since once he starts, he can’t walk away.

When did you realize that you were a puzzle collector? I searched for puzzles for my father, who was a collector. I sometimes kept a puzzler rather than passing it on to him. When I had more puzzles than my father, I was a collector. At one point, I had over 1500 puzzles in my collection.

How do you organize and store your puzzles? I organize them by purchase order. I use shelves/ cubes to store the puzzles that I limit to no more than 10 puzzles per cube.

Do you collect a particular kind of puzzle? I particularly like old map puzzles and any puzzle made before 1900. You can see some of my puzzle collection at http://www.icollectpuzzles.com. My oldest puzzle is a 1783 John Wallis map of England.

Joe’s page on the history of jigsaw puzzles provides a good overview of the topic.

Do you have a ‘holy grain’ puzzle that you want? I would love to own a Spilsbury.

What is your largest puzzle? A 792 piece Falls puzzle is the largest physically. Others have a higher piece count.

What puzzle find was your most exciting? Hard to say, I have been excited about many different purchases. Maybe my first Barfoot is a top memory. You can read about some of Joe’s Barfoot puzzles here: http://www.icollectpuzzles.com/English/barfoot.htm

What puzzle find was your most disappointing? An eBay purchase that was ambiguous and turned out to be a cardboard puzzle. I nailed it to the wall in my garage as a reminder of Caveat Emptor.

Joe, like many of us, is a self-taught puzzle cutter. His first puzzle was a ~1996 Norman Rockwell image. His first saw was a Sears Craftsman but now uses a RBI Hawk and prefers to cut mahogany plywood.

Puzzle Events

Cutters’ Chat 4th Saturday at 4 eastern time every month.

Puzzle Parley 19-21 July in Rochester. Information for the PEPE will be available in mid-Feb, so make sure you’re signed up to receive their emails.

Puzzle Jam South

We’re working on location and pinning down a 2025 date now. Decisions should be made by mid July.

If you didn’t get a copy of Puzzle Pages, it is available to read on the website.

The Puzzled Turtle and Puzzle Jam South are doing a give away on Instagram. Enter by February 4 to have a chance of winning a paint-it-yourself heart puzzle from 3CatMax and some other puzzle swag.

My Puzzles

There are several puzzles ready to ship on the website. Custom orders are taking 6-8 weeks right now. I have added several Bonnie White images that you can order. They work well with color line cutting and most work with a small second layer at the bottom. Here’s Afternoon Flurries that I cut for mom’s birthday.

Plant Corner

Nothing else has died!!! Mom requested a plant for Christmas, so I suffered through going to the nursery and getting several for her and myself. I got a kangaroo paw fern, a rabbit foot fern (absolutely one of my favorites) and 2 other ferns. I’m keeping my eye out for some brass planters at the thrift and antique stores for repotting them.