Steve's Blog

New Yorkers Visit Staveland

Alex and Lori are true-blue Stave Puzzlenuts from Manhattan (below with Paula and me.) They had never been to Staveland so last month they took the leap. They stayed an hour north at the Rabbit Hill Inn which is loaded with Stave puzzles for guests. Alex told Lori that he wanted to veg out and take a break from puzzling.... but the lure of all those puzzles was too much... he got totally hooked...again! Upon leaving Lori said “Thanks for making our life so much fun” then Alex said, “No, thanks for making our life so miserable!”

PS: They brought carrot cake, apple crumb pie, and cheese cake from the Grand Central Station bakery.... YUM!

Crazy Conn. Customer..... Look at Those Puzzles

Audio Slideshow: Our Secret Puzzle Tester Meets Her Match

Here at Stave, we have a small group of elite puzzle testers that keep us on our toes by making sure our wooden jigsaw puzzles are up to snuff. One part geometry genius, one part masochist, these testers are invaluable to us because they are so good at doing jigsaw puzzles, they know when we have goofed by either making a puzzle too hard, or worse, too easy!

One of our long-time testers is Penelope Puzzlenut. A former resident of Manhattan's Upper East Side, she is now hiding out in the Midwest on a 140-acre farm where she gardens, paints and kicks the tires on our puzzles. It's a peaceful place - until we show up with our new puzzles that is.

This month we almost had to call the paramedics because she got her first taste of our new "Trouble Maker" puzzle. Two phone calls to The Chief Tormentor later, we finally calmed her frayed nerves. Says Penelope: "It's is one of the most devious puzzles I have ever tinkered with. I can't wait for more."

We told you these folks are masochists.

Talk About a True-Blue Stave Puzzlenut!

This week I received an email from a long-time Stave Puzzlenut. He said: "Thanks for the great Stave memories!  I've also enclosed an inventory sheet showing all purchases/gifts. Given current market conditions, the jigsaw puzzles may have been better investments and given greater pleasure than most of the stocks in my portfolio!" This represents 88 puzzles for a total of 17,800 pieces according to his inventory sheet... which also shows 25 small puzzles from Twin Farms which I can't seem to find in these photos.

'A Dickens of a Christmas' puzzle in April?

So I'm walking thru the shop a few days ago when I spotted "A Dickens of a Christmas" puzzle being crafted. I did a double-take because normally this limited-edition puzzle is ordered during the Holidays. But Paula and gang have got lots of special deals going on. It's a fun, Holiday puzzle and I thought you'd enjoy seeing it in progress.

Bottom photo represents what's been happening around here... windy and cool...  BUT today is sunny and going to be in the high 60's so I'm heading to the driving range this afternoon to knock some rust off my so-called swing. Tomorrow is first open day at Hanover Country Club and I plan to play 9 holes (if I don't run out of golf balls).

Wired magazine features Champ, a Stave Trick puzzle.

This morning, Friday, I received an email from Evan McGlinn, our PR whiz. Last night he was sitting on British Airways plane bound for London when he picked up new Wired magazine and was thumbing thru it when he came upon an article about us and Champ, which he knew about. But WOW what a huge beautiful photo of Champ. That's Evan's thumb in lower left holding Wired as he took the photo with his iPhone. I do not have a copy of this Wired yet so I'm going to run down to Borders and pick one up.

Chief Tormentor in Mexico

So here I am in Mexico, south of Cancun, for 3 weeks. Top photo is me with grandson Simon, going on 4, in villa pool. Next photo is Simon with his father, Michael, our son, and Stave's webmaster.... they live in Boise.  Final photo is Martha with Simon's mom, Harriett, in Tulum, ancient Mayan city on coast. Mexico is definitely an acquired taste but we had a nice time.... sure beat freezing our buns off in Norwich.

Twin Farms Puzzle Party Lots of FUN

Last weekend the Twin Farms Puzzle Party (Barnard, Vermont) participants came from all points on the compass: California, Louisiana, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Texas... and what a blast we all had. In particular, I was interested in seeing how Kim did with my new TroubleMaker design, London Larceny. Kim (in red) is a sharpie and she solved 2 of the 4 rooms too quickly for my satisfaction.... so the day after the party I 'improved' those 2 rooms (aka made them more difficult)... heh, heh.

Bryan Sweetens up Stavers

Hey, Bryan.... thanks for all the M&M goodies which Jenn and Paula are fighting over... and WOW!! over 30 Prize Point certificates at the bottom of the box... you've been a busy puzzler!

Twin Farms Puzzle Party this Weekend

Our Stave/Twin Farms Puzzle Party is fast approaching and Paula and I are hustling around getting ready for 2 full days of fun puzzling, Friday and Saturday. I have seven(7) new designs I want tested and I can't wait to stand over the shoulders of these puzzlers as they take on my new challenges. I find it very helpful to watch how each puzzler tackles a design. It often gives me new ideas on how to block or slow down their progress in future designs... heh, heh.
     I think many of you know that Twin Farms is one of the world's finest small luxury hotels with 10 rooms and 10 cottages ($1,000 - $3,000/night) located only 45 minutes away in Barnard, Vermont. Every room/cottage has Stave puzzles resulting in many new customers for us each year.
     Below are more amazing edges/corners: