Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Peanuts – Day 1

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Peanuts by Charles Schulz – RoseArt – approx. 125/500 pieces

Lucy, Schroeder, and Woodstock, just hanging out together. Just a fun afternoon of classical music and Lucy’s unrequited love for Schroeder. Very cute.

This puzzle was a gift from hubby for Mother’s Day – he’s a sweetie and I love him to puzzle pieces. Unfortunately, this was the first time I was disappointed in any of these sets; the quality was subpar which made the assembly both frustrating and unsatisfying.

I’ve never had a problem with the quality of these sets of smaller shaped puzzles, perhaps this may be pandemic related. Many puzzle companies started having their manufacturing done in China when the demand for puzzles was sky high during all the lockdowns. The quality went down (in my opinion) for several companies, and maybe this “made in China” puzzle was one of the ones that didn’t get as much attention as it should have.

First of all, there is a missing piece; I am 99% certain it is not my fault. Poor Woodstock seems to have had a rough trip to the barber shop – he’s missing a big chunk of hair! Secondly, the fit of this puzzle was TERRIBLE; it was both extremely loose and “mushy”. Many times you couldn’t tell if the piece was placed correctly even when it was obviously the right one.

Loose fitting, mushy connections and missing pieces – how very very disappointing.

Do You Collect Puzzles?

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling18 Comments

Are you a collector? Or do you just like to assemble a puzzle once and then sell or donate somewhere and move on to the next one? I’m a little bit of both, actually. 😁

There aren’t any series of images that I collect (except one, but it’s more for sentimental reasons), but I know that many people do. Almost every cardboard puzzle that I’ve assembled has been packed up and donated – either to friends, a local senior center, charity shop, or school. There are a few puzzles that I’ve kept because they belonged to Mom or Grama, or because Mom and I assembled them and loved them so much that I cannot bear to get rid of them. Other than those, cardboard puzzles aren’t ones that I keep or collect.

*I have kept all The Talking Jigsaw Puzzles because they’re so unique and interesting, and because Mom and I adored working on them together. The Fitness Center, The Hospital, The Office Building. If I find any of the rest of the series in the thrift stores I will definitely be keeping them too; I don’t have The Beach, City Hall, High School, or Heartbreak Hotel.*

As you can see from the above picture, I do keep almost all of my wooden puzzles. (These are just a few of my micro puzzles from Wentworth, I also have almost every larger puzzle from every company I’ve tried.) There have been a few that I’ve given to friends, and a couple that I’ve sent to others from giveaways on the blog, but otherwise I still have all of my wooden puzzles.

I wouldn’t say I’m a “collector” though – making sure I have every one of a certain series or from a particular artist isn’t something I’m interested in. I buy wooden puzzles that have images or interesting cuts that I think would be entertaining to assemble, that’s it. “Collecting” just to have them isn’t me.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a collector; it’s a hobby or a passion, just like any other. I’m interested in whether or not any of my readers are collectors of puzzles – no matter the kind. Do you collect all puzzles from a certain brand, artist, or series like The Talking Jigsaws? If you do, where do you keep them, and do you assemble them over and over or keep them unopened and pristine like those who collect comic books?

Boobie Trapped

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Boobie Trapped by Angie Rees – Artifact – 340 pieces

This is the most fun I’ve had with a puzzle in a long time, the bright colors, the silly artwork, the excellent pieces – it all made for a great puzzle that I would love to start all over again. I gave myself over completely to the puzzle and just put in pieces wherever I found them; no pressure, no peeking at the box, just a little bit of puzzle paradise whenever it was needed.

When I first started stocking up on puzzles to work on after my surgery I was only looking at the smaller piece counts. I didn’t look at much else and ended up completely missing this one. Penny and I were window shopping online together (lots of texts back and forth with links to cute puzzles) and she came across this image. She knew immediately that I would love it, and it ended up that several cute ones had gone totally unnoticed by me because smaller piece counts were all I was looking at. Thankfully she’s always there to pick up the slack and enable me as much as possible, so an additional order was placed – we couldn’t leave this poor boobie trapped moose all alone!

The dangers of air-drying your laundry in places where there are roaming moose; well, it seems apparent what one of those dangers is doesn’t it?

Great whimsy pieces, including a bra and underwear set. Love the sense of humor with with one! The two beavers with the forest ranger hats were adorable as well.

The “drop out” in this puzzle was perfect. 💕 I don’t think I could have enjoyed this puzzle more, it was fantastic!

Merlin

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Merlin by Phil Lewis – Liberty – 103 pieces

This adorable puzzle is a “Little Liberty”, made for kids. The pieces were much bigger than the usual ones from this company, and the image is an easy one for kids to work on. Although I am a “grown up” this puzzle was still completely entertaining for me – just a big kid at heart I guess.

The image is by one of my favorite artists that Liberty uses, Phil Lewis, he’s a local artist in Boulder, Colorado – where Liberty Puzzles are located. His artwork makes for gorgeous puzzles; he made the image on one of my favorite puzzles I’ve ever assembled, Sugar Magnolia. I love his illustration here of a dreaming doggy with the clouds above showing what he’s dreaming about; you can see a rabbit being chased and a tennis ball, so cute!

Almost 25 percent of the pieces were whimsies, Liberty has the highest percentage of whimsy pieces per puzzle that I’ve ever worked with (from a contemporary company). They’re all appropriate to the image and easy to recognize, which is also excellent in a puzzle designed for children.

After I pulled all the whimsies out I commented to my husband that they all made sense to me in relation to the image, except for one – the standing woman. (I was working on this one in bed, hubby was right next to me while we binged a favorite show) Neither one of us could figure it out, hubby said perhaps she was holding a treat in her left hand that she might be giving to one of the dogs. We decided to wait and see what it looked like from the back once it was completed; sometimes in Liberty puzzles there are tableaus using more than one whimsy in the finished image. Any guesses for what it turned out to be? Hubby and I were both wrong…

At the top near the middle you can see where the lady fits in – she’s walking her poodle! I love how the designer fit in a straight line between pieces as the leash (the only straight line in the whole puzzle). There are a few little scenes in this image, all things Merlin may be dreaming about; barking at a cat, chasing a rabbit, playing with kids, etc.

It went together quickly, but it was a fantastically made puzzle with beautiful artwork by Phil Lewis. I adored it. 💖

In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling8 Comments

I’ve got a few puzzles going at the moment…

Color Garden – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This is one of my “bathroom puzzles” in progress. The lighting in this picture doesn’t do it justice; it’s an excellent image that I’m truly enjoying working on even if it’s only just a few pieces at a time.

Kuala Lumpur by Harimao Lee – Blanc Puzzles – 300 pieces

This is the puzzle on my board right now. Yesterday was a terrible pain day and I basically didn’t get out of bed until early this morning to update this post – so this puzzle sat alone and unloved all day. I thought it would be finished by now, but it looks like it won’t be completely assembled until perhaps later today or maybe even tomorrow. It’s been pretty fun so far, but the easy part is over and now all that’s left is the more difficult section at the top, we’ll see how it goes.

Flower Bee – Crafthub – 146 pieces

This horrid little puzzle is something I’m almost regretting purchasing in the first place, but at the same time I’m glad I gave it a shot. At the very least I can warn others not to purchase any of these terrible quality things.

In the beginning it was being assembled in one of my trays (in bed) but I had to move it to one corner of my fabric-covered board – because the pieces do not connect together well or at all, and the slightest touch will disrupt everything. I was constantly having to reposition pieces that moved around because they were accidentally brushed with my arm or merely by trying to connect another piece. The fabric makes it a little less likely that pieces come apart with an accidental touch.

I bought this wooden puzzle because it was – no joke – $7.99. Here’s what I’ll say about that…you get what you pay for and I should have known better. To say I’m disappointed in the quality would be a gross understatement; I’m disgusted with myself for buying it and am finding the assembly oddly engrossing as well as extremely frustrating. But, as usual, I’ve got a bee in my bonnet (no pun intended) about finishing this one. You’ll be hearing plenty from me when I post about the puzzle once it’s complete. I have MUCH to say about it. 🤬

I’m hoping to have all three finished before we leave for our vacation on Thursday. It’s always good to come to home to an empty board; we might find a fun looking puzzle or two while we we’re out and I might want to get to assembling it right away when we return. 😎

So those are the puzzles in various states of assembly right now at my house. What are you working on?