Fresh Picked Flowers In Progress

On April 21, 2020April 21, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Fresh Picked Flowers IP — Fresh Picked Flowers by Jane Maday – Sunsout – 500 pieces

I have to say I’m having a much better time with this Sunsout puzzle than I did with the last one I assembled. This one has larger pieces, and the quality of the fit is so much better than the last one. Fit makes all the difference!

It’s been going together very quickly; I’m loving the bright colors, the beautiful image, and the random cut that keeps things interesting. It’s one of those puzzles that’s hard for me to walk away from – which means it should be done very soon. 🍒

That’s part of the reason that I usually only purchase Sunsout puzzles second-hand, the quality is hit or miss. Sometimes you get a great puzzle like this one, and sometimes you get quality like I had on Rainy Day Sketch. I don’t like to gamble on whether or not the puzzle I buy will be good quality, and for me Sunsout puzzles are a gamble.

This puzzle perfectly demonstrates that premise. I bought the two puzzles – Fresh Picked Flowers and Rainy Day Sketch – at the same time, at the same store; it turned out 50/50, I got one good one and one bad one. They were both 500 piece puzzles, why such a difference in the way they fit together? Get it together Sunsout!

Honey Nut Cheerios

On April 20, 2020April 20, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Of all the cereal boxes in this set I’ve assembled, this one has been the most enjoyable so far. It could be because the day before I put it together there was no puzzling at all for me, and it was so wonderful to get back to my beloved piece matching – you never can tell really.

We’re almost done with this set of puzzles, so this is my second-favorite of the cereals. Honey Nut Cheerios was such a great cereal for all of us who dumped sugar on our Cheerios – it was already sweet! It came out in 1979, when I was 11 years old, and my sisters and I immediately wanted to try it. “Come on mom, it’s still Cheerios, it’s good for us!” Not all of our moms bought it for us, but when we got it as a special treat we went to town on that box! Between the three girls at my house, it only lasted about one and a half breakfasts – at most.

Only one more to go, and it’s my favorite of all the six cereals. Stay tuned cereal lovers! 🥣💝🥣

Review: Baked With Love

On April 19, 2020April 19, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of good things to say about this puzzle, other than the thickness of the pieces was very good. It’s a pretty picture I suppose, but it’s really not my cup of tea/pile of pieces. Those are all the good things.

Usually MasterPieces has good quality; in fact, the puzzle completed immediately before this one – Quilting Country – was a MasterPieces puzzle with excellent quality. This one however, perhaps because it was a special edition (The Cake Boss), was less than optimal. There was terrible cutting, imperfect image reproduction, and not a great fit.

Baked With Love 1

You can see that the cutting was not up to par. Not that the pieces weren’t cut all the way through, it looks as if the die wasn’t even and it didn’t come close to getting the whole piece cut completely through. And this happened on many pieces, not just this one.

Box Image

Actual Puzzle

You can see the color difference between the box image on the left and the actual puzzle on the right. Actually the box image flowers look much more pink than even my picture shows. It doesn’t show as much here, but there was a big difference between the color on the box and the completed puzzle. In addition, while you can see each of the petals in the box image, on the puzzle itself they are just fuzzy, indistinct blobs of color.

Again, I have found that MasterPieces puzzles are normally good quality, but this special Cake Boss edition puzzle fell below their usual standards. In my mind they’re still a company that puts out good puzzles and it won’t stop me from continuing to buy them.

But if you run across a Cake Boss puzzle from MasterPieces, be wary. Baked with Love is definitely not recommended.

Details:

Title: Baked with Love
Artist: Unknown
Brand: Masterpieces
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Poor
Image: Poor
Box: Fair, opens at the top
Fit: Fair
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Poor quality, not recommended

Mill Cottage In Progress

On April 18, 2020April 18, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Mill Cottage IP — Mill Cottage by Debbie Cook – Milton Bradley – 1000 pieces

I was up most of the night, so this puzzle finally got sorted and started. Yay insomnia? Yeah, I don’t think so. 🥱

On the plus side I’m finally working a puzzle again after a couple of days of almost no puzzling at all; on the minus side I’m exhausted and loopy and not all here mentally. Although one could argue that I am never “all there”. Whatever. I’m lots of fun!

When I was near the end of the sorting I found a couple of edge pieces that had become completely delaminated (the image was separated from the chipboard), but luckily both parts of the pieces were there so I could fix them before I started assembling. It was odd that it was only two pieces and that they were next to each other along the edge.

Mill Cottage pieces

The paper used for the image was quite sturdy, in fact when I was sorting I didn’t notice that these two pieces were much thinner than the rest. But I recognized immediately that the two pieces of chipboard had no image on one side. It was easily remedied with a little bit of super glue, not much of a problem at all really. Onward!

It looks as though it’s going to be a difficult assembly – there’s a LOT of green. But perhaps I’m wrong and it’ll be much easier than I thought. Here’s hoping.

I hope all you members of the PADS Posse have a great day, with plenty of time for our favorite hobby/obsession. Happy puzzling! 🧩

Quilting Country

On April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This is another thrift store puzzle that mom found for us, she got this one especially for me because she knew how much I love puzzles with quilts. I’ve had this around for probably a couple of years, and last month was when it looked like it was the right time for this puzzle. I’m glad I finally got this one done, it was lovely!

I’m still surprised at how my mind works when I’m deciding what puzzle comes next. I can purchase a puzzle new, be excited about it and look forward to putting it together, but can put it off for months or even years because it just isn’t the right time. I have to be in the right mood, but there’s no way for me to explain what constitutes the right combination of time and mood – I don’t even know! I love quilt puzzles, but for some reason it took me more than two years to get this puzzle done because the time and mood weren’t right until now. 🤷‍♀️

It’s beautiful image by Eric Dowdle and his symmetrical style makes for truly fun but challenging puzzles. The image reproduction was gorgeous, and the overall quality was very good. The offset grid cut made it a little more difficult, but it kept me engrossed and involved – keeping my mind off the stresses and frustrations of the world.

Quilting Country 1

The chicken in the mailbox made me laugh! It’s something you don’t notice when looking at the entire picture, but a closer look shows some more humor and fun.

Quilting Country 2

Love this quilt! The colors and the pattern are beautiful, but really all of the quilts are.

Quilting Country 3

If you notice there are a lot of kids eating watermelon in this image, and there are even watermelons in this quilt. Again, it’s something you don’t notice until you’re studying patterns while putting together the pieces.

I’ve always had an appreciation for quilters and their ability to combine patterns and colors in such a beautiful way. I don’t think I have the artistic chops to be able to do that, combining different fabric patterns like they do. It’s amazing to me and I wish I had that talent; I don’t, so I’ll just have to be content with assembling beautiful quilt puzzles instead. 🧩😉🧩