Berry Bucket by Jane Maday – Ravensburger – 500 pieces
Berry Bucket was completely entertaining to put together, and the finished image is beautiful! Great quality, the pretty summery artwork, and working together with mom made this an excellent all around assembly.
I worried that the sunflowers would be a frustrating, but surprisingly they were great fun; working from the center outward was the key. The greenery was the most difficult, but didn’t seem tedious or overwhelming at all. It’s just a great puzzle image that made for a wonderful assembly experience.
Jane Maday’s puzzles are so lovely, I need to find more of them!
Doors of Europe by Dominic Davison – Educa – 1500 pieces
Usually when I think of puzzles with artwork by Dominic Davison I think of lovely cottages and countrysides; this puzzle has those, but only as glimpsed through doorways. Even though it had been almost a year and a half since I’d worked a 1500 piece puzzle, the image drew me in and I was ready to work on it with no anxiety at all about the number of pieces. It’s a gorgeous image and exactly what I was looking for when I wanted a collage to assemble.
Collages are my some of my favorite puzzles; it’s like having many mini puzzles to assemble and figure out how they connect together. It reduces the amount of stress for me because I don’t have to work the puzzle as a whole, just little sections at a time. I also love the look of collages; whether they are a hodge-podge of images all smushed together or an orderly collection of similar objects, I find the overall effect to be pleasing to the eye.
This puzzle was beautiful, just the right amount of challenging, and thoroughly entertaining to assemble. The doors were relatively easy to sort, though the scenes behind them sometimes presented a challenge. I started with the easiest and brightest colors, and in the process became more familiar with each of the scenes and the slight differences in shades of colors that allowed me to determine where they belonged.
Surprisingly, there weren’t very many pieces at all that were just the brick background – once all the doors were complete it didn’t take much time to fill in the rest of the pieces. It was a completely engrossing puzzle with a beautiful end result!
These two doors were the most fun to put together; London looks amazing, and I’m not ashamed to say I have no idea what the other is. I’m fairly certain it’s a Mediterranean city, but have no clue as to which one it may be. It doesn’t matter much, I still enjoyed the assembly of it.
This door was the most difficult, and it was the last one completed; many of the pieces looked like they might fit in other sections. It’s a mysterious set of doors though, isn’t it? Who’s on the other side?
The cut of Educa puzzles is one thing about this brand that I’m not crazy about. Most of the pieces are ballerinas (2/2), and with the limited variety of shapes there are many places where the pieces seem to fit where they do not belong. This is especially frustrating in larger areas of one color and along the edges. That said, they also have their humpback/swayback shaped pieces, which are quite easy to find and match!
My other issue with this brand is the puzzle image on their boxes. Their logo, piece count, and the words “Educa Puzzle” in very large font take over the far right side of the box; this effectively obscures one entire edge of the image! Why? As an avid puzzler, I feel I can speak for many of us when I say that you could reduce the size of the image a bit, as long as there’s an unobstructed view of the image as a WHOLE we would be very grateful. (We are not grateful, however, for the tiny 1 x 1.5 inch whole image on the side of the box, it is not helpful!)
Complaining aside, I really did have a great time with this puzzle, I promise. Bad cut and covered picture aside, it was an entertaining assembly and a beautiful finished puzzle. Loved it❣
The Gardener’s Cupboard by Colin Thompson – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 40 pieces
I’m celebrating National Jigsaw Day by posting an awesome puzzle from the UK, The Gardener’s Cupboard from Wentworth. I’ll also be celebrating by working on a puzzle, big surprise, huh?
In the US we have National Puzzle Day on January 29; it isn’t specific to jigsaw puzzles, but includes all types – sudoku, crossword, brain teasers, etc. In the UK this is the 4th annual National Jigsaw Day, especially for us dissectologists! (That’s just a ten dollar word for someone who enjoys assembling jigsaw puzzles – with today’s exchange rate that word is worth about 7.7 pounds sterling 😎) I’m way over here across the pond, but I’m an avid puzzler so I’m down with celebrating any day that celebrates jigsaw puzzling!
Wentworth is celebrating by offering 10% of any regularly priced puzzles, and having a Golden Whimsy Piece Competition. Buy any of their micro puzzles from their Stocking Filler Collection this weekend (Nov. 2-4, 2018) and you may receive a Golden Whimsy piece. If you find one of the 3 special pieces you win a year’s worth of puzzles – the prize is 12 x 250 piece puzzles of your choice. Wow! My puzzles are already ordered, wish me luck. 🍀 Check out their website for all the details, and happy National Jigsaw Day!
Now to this beautiful Colin Thompson puzzle – it was so much fun! The whimsies were perfect for gardening…
I love the spade stuck in the dirt (top right), although it took a few seconds to register exactly what it was. It’s so enjoyable to open a Wentworth and find all the whimsies to see what they are and how they relate to the puzzle image! I need to get out more, right? I’m WAY too excited about these things. 😉
The micro puzzles from Wentworth are a godsend to me, allowing me to puzzle when I’m unable to get out of bed and sit at my puzzle table, or even when I can’t sit up in bed to work with a puzzle on my whiteboard. I can put all the pieces on a cookie sheet lined with paper and complete one of these beauties while laying down. That’s exactly how I worked on The Gardener’s Cupboard.
I think I’d like to work this image in a larger piece count, there’s just so much to see! Colin Thompson’s cupboard puzzles are filled with interesting (and weird) things – and all those adorable little pink people! Even though it might have been better with more pieces, this puzzle was great fun. Two thumbs way up! 👍👍
Fruits of a Morning Walk/Summer Blooms by Marjolein Bastin – Ceaco – 300 pieces
Fruits of a Morning Walk (Summer Blooms) – gorgeous puzzle! I knew this puzzle would be a bit more difficult than usual for a 300 piece puzzle, but it was just too pretty to pass up. As you know I’m not normally one for pastels, but there’s something about the combination of colors used…it’s stunning!
Why was the name of the artwork not on the box? I have no idea, but I find it frustrating; at least the artist’s name was there, that’s something. I had to look up the artist online and find this image to come up with the name. Once I found the image and it’s name, I found that this puzzle is not named for the artwork, it is called Summer Blooms. Huh. If they were going to change the name, why not put that new name on the damn box!? With all the space available on puzzle boxes, shouldn’t the artist and artwork be named somewhere? Being the stubborn old broad that I am, I’m still calling it the much more poetic name (but I’ve added the retail name too in case anyone wants to purchase it).
I found the quality of this Ceaco puzzle to be very good; the pieces were thick and fit together very well. You can see from the picture that the image reproduction is beautiful. It’s a little brighter than the original artwork, but still lovely. As with many brands, I find that the 300 piece puzzles seem to have better quality chipboard. Perhaps because many people who choose this piece count have dexterity or vision issues and the better board makes for easier puzzling. Whatever the reason, I am grateful for the improved all around quality.
Mom came over to hang out and puzzle with me, and we worked on and finished this beauty together. It’s amazing how it looks so unassuming and fun when you see the completed puzzle, but when it’s just pieces on the board it is definitely not so easy. It seems to me that it’s much more entertaining to work on a difficult puzzle with someone else. At least that’s the case with me; I get a little less frustrated. Then there’s the added bonus of spending time with someone you care about – without distractions – it’s time extremely well spent. 💗
I’m so excited!!! Hubby says my birthday present from Liberty Puzzles will be arriving today! My puzzle dealer in the brown truck will be bringing me joy and happiness in a box. I can hardly wait!
What will it be? How many pieces? Why isn’t it here already?
It’s gonna be a good day today – I can feel it! Although, I think I may have gone over the limit for exclamation point usage in one post. Whatever! I’m so excited! New Liberty wooden puzzle today! 🤩
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My Jigsaw Journal 