Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

Tea…In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Tea For Two by Aimee Stewart – Wentworth – 176 pieces

As you can see I haven’t actually started the assembly, but I have taken out the whimsies for this one and I’m very much looking forward to beginning. This is a shaped puzzle from Wentworth, but it is three separate shaped puzzles – the teapot and two cups.

Because tomorrow is Fat Tuesday and the day after that is Valentine’s Day, there are specific puzzles that I wanted to post on those days – so you’re getting an “in progress” puzzle today instead of tomorrow.

Hope you’re all having a great Monday, and that you’re working on a fun puzzle!

Music Mania

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Music Mania by Marc Arundale – Wentworth – 40 pieces

With so many colors and so much going on, this little 40 piece puzzle was harder than it looks! Still, it was completely absorbing and for the few minutes it took me to put together I was absolutely focused only on the puzzle – it was fantastic meditation for someone like me who finds actual meditation difficult.

I’ve still got about six more mini puzzles from Wentworth here, and because my queue is basically empty I think you’ll be seeing them very soon. I’ve got to get myself back to a place where I have enough completed puzzles that I can leisurely work on whatever puzzle feels right without worrying about what to post next.

Love these musical whimsies! Wentworth is usually great about making the whimsy pieces fit the image; it’s always entertaining for me to look through the pieces to find the whimsies and see how they relate to the picture on the puzzle.

This image looks as though it would be fun in a larger piece count, there’s so much to see and it’s difficult to actually take it all in when the image is so small. Music Mania was really enjoyable!

…Gator In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

The Pinwheel Gator by Alex Beard – Liberty – 512 pieces

This one is going slowly, but it’s nothing to do with the puzzle itself, I just can’t sit for long at the table. Besides, I don’t look at the box image when I’m working on a wooden puzzle; it makes it last longer and I can really be in the moment and enjoy everything a wooden puzzle has to offer.

Normally I don’t work from top to bottom, but that’s just how this one is going. I started with the purple color at the top and am working each color from there down. It’s quite fun!

From what I can see from the pieces I think this is another puzzle from Liberty that has an additional character/image to assemble. Remember The Seven Chakras where each little puzzle had a representation of the chakra that could be assembled as a multipiece whimsy? Well, I’m pretty sure this puzzle has a big gator that can be assembled with some of the pieces.

It doesn’t seem to be one like Birds, whose Alternate Solution used every piece; it looks as though only some of the pieces will be used.

I hope it isn’t too difficult, because I really wanna try to get it done when I’m finished with this puzzle. 🐊

Garden Shed*

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

Garden Shed* – Hua Cao Shu Mu – 300 pieces

Sorry to do this to you two days in a row, but I’ve got no puzzles left in my queue, and I did these two puzzles one right after the other. Wanna guess about the quality? Did you guess that it needed a very big straw? You are correct!

  • Image reproduction – horrible and blurry.
  • Fit – loose, pieces sometimes fit where they don’t belong
  • Piece shape – only one shape – BORING
  • Chipboard – thin with a tendency to peel apart
  • Backing – sharp white backing with letters on it to assist in assembly

I did not enjoy the assembly, it was just one I wanted to get it done to get this box of puzzles out of my sight.

If you see a puzzle box with the name Hua Cao Shu Mu on it, set it down and walk away. It isn’t worth the frustration.

Puzzler’s Desk

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

Puzzler’s Desk by Steve Read – Hua Cao Shu Mu – 300 pieces

Ugh. This puzzle sucked. I would enjoy doing this image put onto a quality puzzle, but on this crap-tastic thing wasn’t any fun at all.

I have a bad attitude about it, admittedly. But it is what it is, this is my blog and I’m expressing my feelings. Here they are – if you see puzzles that are so friggin’ cheap that you can hardly believe it, there’s a reason and you should run away. I didn’t purchase this new, it was bought second-hand at a thrift store, so at least this company didn’t get any of my hard-earned money, but it still ticks me off.

Also, I know for a fact that these companies steal these images and the artists get no compensation at all, which makes me even more upset. It shouldn’t be easy to get away with theft like this, but unfortunately it is. It’s depressing.

This puzzle sucked. End of story.