Not Enough Time or Boards

On May 23, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Went to mom’s yesterday after a doctor’s appointment to see what she’d found at the thrift stores last week. All I can say is I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME OR BOARDS! I knew when I saw what she’d found that I’d want to do one or more of them right away. I’ve got a Wasgij going on my smaller board (that’s where the clock above comes from), and a Bits and Pieces going on my white board (I use the white board when I’m working in my room lying down), but there are more I want to be working on!

Mom found a Springbok octagonal puzzle from the early 70’s, a Jigsaw Puzzle for Dummies, an awesome looking puzzle from a company we’ve never heard of – and more! A couple of them that she found look like so much fun that I left them at her house cause I want to do them with her. She says looking for puzzles at the thrift stores is like a treasure hunt, she never knows what awesome gem she’s going to find. She’s found amazing puzzles at amazing prices and I just don’t have enough time or boards to work them all! Have I told you she found a 4000 piece Educa puzzle for $1.99?!?

I brought 3 adult puzzles home and all of the kids puzzles (I think 4 or 5). Unless they haven’t been opened I work the kids puzzles to be sure all the pieces are accounted for before giving them to my “grandson”; and also because even 100 piece puzzles are fun!

On the bright side, I have lots of incentive to finish the puzzles I’m already working on so I can start the new ones. I’m super excited to start the puzzles from companies we haven’t tried before, I always love trying new ones!

The thing is, she’s doing it all over again this week. Tuesday is one of the days she’s goes to the thrift stores in the evening – there’ll be more to look at and more that jump into the queue. 👍

I hope it doesn’t seem as if I’m complaining, because I’m not. I’m truly thankful for all that I have and I try not to take things for granted. I know I’m lucky to have the too many puzzles “problem”. This post isn’t really complaining about having so many puzzles to choose from, what it’s really about is that I have what I’m calling Menopausal A.D.D. My aging brain jumps from one thing to another, from one puzzle to another and I love everything so much that I want to be able to work on all of them at the same time. Ooh! Look! There’s something shiny on that puzzle! 😮

The Village Hall

On May 22, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I was in the mood for a Ravensburger puzzle, and this one looked like fun – it was! Again, I don’t take a picture of the entire puzzle because I don’t want to ruin the fun for anyone. So much of the enjoyment I get from puzzles like this is working out what’s going on and who goes where. I don’t want to spoil someone else’s fun!

In this puzzle, the caretaker at Grimley Hall is certain his new booking system is foolproof. But what if he didn’t take enough care and what if the Hall were double booked, or worse? As usual the result is comical and makes for a great puzzle.

Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a puzzle with quality I know will be excellent and I can just chill out and have fun with the assembly. Ravensburger is always available for that! This puzzle was no different and it was nice to sit down and get lost in the puzzle and tune out the world, even if only for a few minutes at a time. The pieces just feel good in your hand and you can put your mind in puzzle gear and not think about anything else.

As usual the art of Geoff Tristam is excellent and funny with bright colors and clean lines, and humor that I love. Also if you’re not familiar with the What If puzzles, on the back of each box is a blurb about the artist and he’s dressed up for a picture relating to the puzzle. On the back of this box he’s dressed up like the caretaker and he even has a ledger for bookings! I adore cartoon puzzles, and Geoff Tristam’s artwork is some of the best. 🙂

I highly recommend trying the What If puzzles. The quality is exceptional, the artwork is excellent and it’s wonderful exercise for your brain.

Lazy Sunday

On May 21, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

I’ve been under the weather for the past few days and not feeling well at all. Today feels like a day to just rest and relax and maybe do some window shopping for puzzles online. Perhaps a puzzle or two will find their way into my wishlist. 😊

I hope everyone is having a wonderful, restful Sunday. Perhaps while I’m lying in bed I’ll sort the edge pieces of a puzzle or two for when I’m feeling up to starting a new one. Mom was supposed to visit yesterday and show me the thrift store haul from last week, but maybe she’s feeling lazy too.

I should have plenty of time today to sit in bed and work on my posts for a few of the puzzles that I’ve finished but not yet posted. Back to our regularly scheduled puzzle posts tomorrow!

Bears! Bears! Bears!

On May 20, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

I had high hopes for this puzzle, but unfortunately the quality was lacking in my opinion. The previous cork-backed puzzle I assembled had excellent quality and was quite fun to assemble. This puzzle, while fun, was not of the same superior quality. The cork backing was coming off a large number of pieces and there was image lift on the top as well. Disappointing, I enjoyed the previous Ceaco puzzle with cork on the back and was hoping for another interesting Ceaco with exceptional quality. 😐

Ceaco has some great artists working with them and I love the images on some of their puzzles, but I wish the quality were better. Even just a little bit more thickness of the pieces would make a huge difference. Or perhaps a little more consistency would be welcome, how can the quality be so radically different between the two puzzles?

This image from Jane Wooster Scott is adorable, and the assembly was fun. You can see especially in the sky that there were whimsies in this puzzle – and there were a few where several pieces put together formed an animal or object. If you look at the lower left side of the house you can see where four pieces fit together to form a horse! Interesting to me as well was the fact that there were two different breeds of dog, you could easily tell each one; there was the distinctive silhouette of a poodle, and also a cocker spaniel which is easy to recognize.

I’ve enjoyed all the interesting puzzles mom has found at the thrift stores – there have been puzzles backed with cork or velvet, “talking” jigsaw puzzles, interesting 3D puzzles, new puzzle companies we’d never heard of before, puzzles made of foam, educational puzzles, etc. It’s always fun to try something new and see whether or not it’s enjoyable. I try to always give a new puzzle a chance, because you never know what awesome new experience could be around the next corner piece! 😉

Jungle Colors

On May 19, 2017 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

This puzzle looked so cool that mom bought it from the thrift store knowing the quality wouldn’t be amazing. It is a stunning image and made for a challenging assembly at times, but we enjoyed it which is what matters most.

Alas, as sometimes happens with thrift store puzzles, a piece was missing. Bummer, but it was still a fun assembly even with the sameness of the pieces (they were all ballerinas) 😐 Oh well, a good time was had by all!

I’d love to find more puzzles with images from this artist. The colors she chooses are gorgeous and the fact that everything is outlined in white made for an extremely interesting assembly. They’re striking and would be good glued and framed as art, at least I think so.