Untitled In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling3 Comments

Untitled – Unknown – 150 pieces

I was waiting on a Puzzle Fairy delivery yesterday, so I didn’t want to start any larger piece count puzzles. A micro puzzle is always good for a good time, so this untitled puzzle from an unknown manufacturer seemed like an excellent choice – an adorable puppy face is almost always sure to make me smile, and there are several adorable puppy faces in this one. (Plus, there’s that sweet Boston Terrier in the corner, how in the world can I be expected to pass that up?) 🐾🧡

This way I was still able to put some puzzle pieces together yesterday to center and relax me, but whatever puzzle will be my next inspiration won’t have to wait long at all for me to finish this little guy and have the board ready for more pieces.

Wish I knew where these mini puzzles came from, but honestly there are no clues whatsoever in this aging brain of mine.

*The puzzles arrived, but it was later in the afternoon and I wasn’t even able to open them until this morning. So many puzzles and so much inspiration – thank you Puzzle Fairy! 💚🧚‍♀️

The Sunny City

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

The Sunny City by Felicia Chiao – Magic Puzzle Company – 1000 pieces

Oh man, I worked really hard on this puzzle and I’m so bummed I can’t show you all my work. *sigh* Oh well, that’s my policy when it comes to “mystery” puzzles, I never give away the ending and only show you a part of the puzzle that is shown on the box so there are NO SPOILERS here at My Jigsaw Journal.

I’ll never forget my first mystery puzzle, it was a Wasgij, and I was looking for an image of the box top to put on the What’s On My Board section of the blog, and the first image that popped up was a picture of the completed puzzle. I was so upset, I wanted to do the puzzle myself and figure it out and now I couldn’t un-see the solution! I will never do that to anyone so my policy is firm and I don’t do spoilers here. (I also never look for a mystery puzzle box image to put on the blog’s home page anymore!)

Magic Puzzle Company is a new to me brand, and I wanted to see what all the hype was about; the only way to do that is try it for myself. The pieces are a good thickness and there are an excellent variety of shapes that fit together well, if somewhat loosely; the fit seemed quite loose while assembling the border, but gets better the more you go along. The image reproduction is excellent with a matte finish and I enjoyed putting this one together more than I thought I would. Overall I would give it a good/very good rating.

If you haven’t heard of this brand, it’s called the Magic Puzzle Company because once you finish the puzzle there’s an extra packet to open, which helps you make your puzzle do a magic trick. It’s pretty cool, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

In the box you get the packet of pieces, the secret envelope, two posters (so you can have a friend join in the fun), a card with some info about the company and the puzzle itself and some easter eggs to look for in the completed image. The packet with pieces is closed with velcro so that none can escape, and the secret packet is closed with string ties; all meant to be reusable so you can send this puzzle on to others to enjoy once you’re done. In addition there is a sticker on the inside of the box top to record who completed the puzzle and the date – it’s meant to be passed on to others to share in the fun. I like that, and I have filled it out now that the puzzle is complete. 📝

There are a few whimsies in this puzzle, and for some reason I’m not sure of there is one very large piece. I have no explanation for it, just wanted to show you.

There are many things I want to say about this puzzle and the assembly – but I can’t without spoiling things. It’s frustrating. When I was working on the border I said to myself “I need to tell them …..” but then when I started writing up the post I realized I can’t tell you that, it might spoil things. Then something happened when I was working the inside of the image and the same thought came into my head, that I needed to remember to tell you that _______ happened – but I can’t!

Just ask Penny; I was texting her the day I finished it telling her how I was p*ssed that I put all that work into putting the puzzle together and I can’t show anyone or even say much about it. Luckily she says she doesn’t care for the artwork on their puzzles so she won’t be assembling any of them – so she got ALL the pictures that day, quite a few pictures showing everything – proof that I did all the work!😂

I really did enjoy this puzzle, even more than I thought I would. The artwork seemed as though it was all very much the same color palate and honestly I wasn’t sure how entertaining or difficult it would be to assemble, but it turned out to be great for puzzling and I had a very good time with it. Wish I could say more, I just refuse to spoil anything at all, so I can’t.

So what do you think? Are you up for a Magic Puzzle of your own? Abracadabra! 🧩

Quilting Bee

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Quilting Bee by Kay Lamb Shannon – Bits & Pieces – 300 pieces (Large Pieces)

Love this country/Americana image, and although it was entertaining it wasn’t great. I was hoping to enjoy it more, perhaps the problem is my expectations. There was nothing wrong with the quality or the image, it just wasn’t what I wanted unfortunately.

Bits & Pieces is a company whose quality isn’t my taste, but I will buy them if I like the image and can find them secondhand. In my post about this puzzle while it was in progress I talked about keeping “tools” in my purse for thrift store shopping, and how I opened this box to find that each puzzle in the multipack was bagged separately and had it’s own image printed out. It had definitely been well cared for, so I took a chance. I paid $3.99 for four 300 piece puzzles, not bad at all! All of the images in this multipack were cute country images, ones I probably wouldn’t buy on their own but in a multipack of smaller piece counts they’re perfect for me, and the artwork of Kay Lamb Shannon is detailed and beautiful. It was an excellent find.

I’m not really a fan of this cut, it’s almost circular and makes for many pieces that are almost triangular. I have no reason to not like it other than just my own personal preference. Everyone is different. I love a truly random cut puzzle, and I enjoy both grid and ribbon cut as well; this one though, I am just NOT a fan.

I saved the quilt for the last bit of assembly, I love to assemble quilts! Again, I have no real reason I can come up with, I just do. No apologies, no excuses – I like what I like.

This little puzzle was enjoyable, and other than the glare from the finish the quality was very good. It was a very nice palate cleanser after a 1000 piece puzzle, and before I start another larger piece count. That’s exactly what I have those smaller puzzles for, and this one certainly did it’s job. 😉

Peacock and Pattern In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Peacock and Pattern by Jane Tattersfield – Liberty Puzzles – 508 pieces

No, I haven’t made today alliteration day, I’ve decided to work on a gorgeous Liberty wooden puzzle to try to get out of this funk I find myself in. Peacock, pattern, progress – pure puzzle pleasure in perfect proportion! So far it seems to be helping, let’s hope it stays that way.

Another beautiful image by Jane Tattersfield, she was the artist on another Liberty puzzle I assembled and LOVED from over eight years ago – Birds. I knew the minute I saw this one that it would also be great fun, and so far it has been. I adore images that aren’t the usual puzzle go-to subjects; hot air balloons, kittens, landscapes, Coca-Cola Santa, etc. When they’re out of the ordinary that immediately makes me stop and take notice, and this one is perfect for me.

Normally with these puzzles you don’t start with the edges, but this image has a border that was easy to pick out and that’s where I began. It naturally flowed from there into the yellow patterns, and I’m still working on getting all of them in place – or at least close to it. When I was working on it yesterday I found myself ignoring everything (husband, children, laundry timers, bodily requirements like food, water, etc.) in pursuit of just… one… more… piece…

It’s a very good thing for your mental health to get into that meditative state where the puzzle is the only thing on your mind. What shape do I need? Do these colors match? Where should this one go? I’m praying a couple of days working on this stunning puzzle with it’s bright, glorious colors and amazingly shaped wooden pieces will continue to help improve my mental health and maybe help get me back to my usual puzzle nirvana.

I took my computer off the puzzle (yes, I put it right on top of whatever puzzle I’m assembling when I’m working on the blog) once I was done typing up this post, and really looked at it while sitting far back in my puzzling chair. The angle, the depth of the wooden pieces, it was/is absolutely gorgeous. I had to take another picture from that angle to show you, isn’t this a beautiful puzzle?!

Happy puzzling today my friends. Namaste. 🧩🙏

Spring Patchwork

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Spring Patchwork by Bethan Janine – Elena Essex – 1000 pieces

This was another lend from Penny, and boy was she right about how much I would enjoy this one. I could not leave it alone. I kept going back to it over and over again and it was started and completed on the same day for this reason – it was too much fun!

My first Elena Essex puzzle – quality. It was good, excellent variety of shapes, beautiful reproduction with a matte finish, nice thick pieces that fit together well.

This was my favorite section to assemble, there’s something about the colors and the image itself. Most of the details are paler colors than I normally enjoy, but the dark background made this so entertaining for me. Gorgeous!

Most of this puzzle was super easy to sort, but this little section was the hardest to get all of the pieces for, I just kept missing ones I should have seen. And that little greenhouse was harder than it looks for me to assemble. Still this was a fun section to put together.

There’s something so beautiful about this simple little section. It was one of the last I assembled, but I enjoyed every piece. Absolutely gorgeous.

I enjoyed this puzzle very, very much – and like several others I’ve done lately I found myself wishing it had been a larger piece count because it was over much too soon. Each little section was it’s own little puzzle and they fit together beautifully into this gorgeous 1000 piece stunner. Of course I loved it. 💖