Author: Stacey at myjigsawjournal

100 Aussie Icons

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

100 Aussie Icons by Jim Tsinganos – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 40 pieces

While getting posts ready for when I’d be out of commission I realized I needed a few more completed puzzles, so I took this one off the shelf and put it together quickly – while I was finishing a cup of coffee. Truly a one coffee puzzle!

I put together this same image for a review over 3.5 years ago (as a much larger 515 piece puzzle), you can see it here if you’re interested. I remember having to ask Mr. Bob who all the icons were, being an uninformed American I had absolutely no clue. It’s a great image by Jim Tsinganos, and really fun to put together – whether it’s over 500 pieces or only 40.

These are the whimsy pieces. For my friend Kazza and any Aussie readers out there I made sure to put the country the right way up this time. My apologies for getting it wrong previously. I didn’t even think about it, just turned all the pieces over so you could see the extra lines in the figures and didn’t for one moment think about making sure it was right side up! So sorry guys, please forgive an aging Yank – it won’t happen again.

Currently In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

My youngest son and I went to the bookstore yesterday, and he helped me pick out a few puzzles – he also helped me pick out which puzzle was next. So currently I’m in the process of sorting an adorable and silly puzzle called Night Owls Study Group; my son is crazy about owls at the moment, so we’re just going with it.

*The picture above is a “recycled” one and not the puzzle I’m sorting. There is a limited amount of space for media on my current WordPress plan, and since the puzzle isn’t even started yet I decided to use any old “sorting” picture and save space for future puzzles.*

It’s Memorial Day here in the United States; a day to honor and mourn those who gave their lives in service to our country. It isn’t about an extra day off work or getting a great deal on some new furniture or a mattress – it’s about remembering those who gave all. So if you’re an American, maybe take a minute or two today to think about what this holiday is really about.

To all of those who currently serve in our military, to those who have served, and most especially to those who gave their lives to try and keep our country safe and free – Thank You. ❤🤍💙

Broadway Musicals

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Broadway Musicals – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

Doesn’t this look like fun? If you answered yes – get yourself a cookie, you were absolutely right! Even though it’s 1000 pieces (and I hadn’t done one that big in a more than a year 😲), it didn’t seem like a larger puzzle because it felt as though I were assembling a bunch of smaller puzzles, little bits at a time.

As an added bonus it’s a panoramic puzzle, so there was much less leaning over the board to reach the top of the image than there normally is. I adore panoramic puzzles, they’re so much easier on this old body.

The quality was the usual for Re-marks. There weren’t any issues at all other than a slightly loose fit, but even that wasn’t too bad. The pieces are a good thickness, there were a good variety of piece shapes, and the image reproduction was crisp and clear (just a bit shiny). Their catalog of collage images is just too good to pass up, so whatever quality issues the brand has doesn’t matter much to me. My head gets turned by a pretty “face” on the box and before you know it the puzzle has been adopted and has come home with me.

I haven’t really seen many musicals in the theater, but I have seen the movie West Side Story many, many times. We also had a record of the soundtrack when we were little, and my sisters and I knew every word of every song. My parents love to tell the story of them taking us all to the movies to see it for a matinee; and as soon as the first song started playing there were three young girls singing along at the top of their lungs. Luckily the other people in the theater weren’t too upset with us, perhaps we were just too cute. Apparently we even got some applause after that first song! 🤩

I haven’t seen this show, but I’ve heard lots of good things about it and would love the opportunity to watch it. Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper – yes please! It’s too bad they don’t record the show and put it on a streaming service for the rest of the world to see. A streaming service with theatrical shows would be amazing for those of us who don’t live in or near New York. In fact, a streaming service that has plays and musicals from around the world (not just Broadway) would be an excellent idea. I would definitely be a subscriber – how about you?

I don’t recall ever hearing about this show, but reading all those signs makes me think I would absolutely love it. Coming of age in the 80’s means I love all that music, all those hair bands, all that arena rock – it’s one that would most likely have me singing along at the top of my lungs, just like when I was a little girl at the movies. 😁🎶

Plumes of Color

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Plumes of Color by Eduard – Buffalo – 300 pieces

Is this not a GORGEOUS image? It’s even prettier in person! A beautiful image and a great quality puzzle, what more could a puzzle gal ask for?

Being that I was too nervous to sort or assemble a larger puzzle right away, this was one of the few smaller piece count puzzles that was here at the house; obviously it had to be next.

The only problem was that I’d spent a good number of hours re-reading through much of my blog and came upon a post about a gradient puzzle from a few years ago that was pretty darned difficult. In that post I wanted to remind myself that although they are usually lovely to look at, gradient puzzles can be extremely challenging and care should be taken in judging whether or not the pretty picture would be fun to put together. Yikes.

Luckily this puzzle, at only 300 pieces, wasn’t nearly as difficult as I’d built it up to be. Good fun was had and it kept me out of trouble.

For a little while. 😊

Where Do You Puzzle?

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Miscellaneous29 Comments

Do you have a special place to work on your puzzles? Do you have a puzzle board that’s exclusively for you or do you have to take over the dining room table from time to time? Do you work only in one place or do you roam the house and puzzle all over?

I’m always interested in how others get their jig on, so to speak.

When this post starting forming in my brain it had me thinking about how my Grama (who instilled in me my love for jigsaw puzzles) used to work on her puzzles, and I’m amazed at where she chose to puzzle. She always sat in “her” chair in the living room and used a huge piece of cardboard that she placed on the big footstool in front of the chair. Thinking about how much leaning over that required, I’m stunned she didn’t develop back problems. When my sisters and I would spend the night at her house there were many times when we went to bed and Gram was working on a puzzle; when we got up in the morning she was still sitting there in her pajamas in front of the board and the puzzle was much closer to completion. I used to think to myself that I couldn’t wait to be a grownup so I could stay up all night if I wanted to and work on puzzles. (I have done so on several occasions, and it is very nice not to have to answer to anyone about my bedtime, that’s for sure.😉)

Mom used a big sheet of white board paneling, cut down to a manageable size, that my dad bought from the hardware store. When she was working on a puzzle she’d put it on top of her big table in the office (it had plenty of room for us to sit side by side and puzzle together when I visited), and when she needed the table for other things she’d just pick up the board and set it on the day bed. She also worked late into the night on puzzles, especially if we hadn’t finished a puzzle on one of our Friday visit days. She’d text me a picture of the finished image and say something like “worked on this one till 3 am, but we finally got it done!”.

I have several boards and have both a dedicated room where I work on my puzzles, and extra boards and trays so that if need be I can work on larger and smaller puzzles in other rooms of the house. My main boards were made by hubby, my mom, and me – it was definitely a team effort.

My fantastic husband helped me to make a board to work the giant 40,320 piece Disney puzzle, measuring 5 feet by 4 feet, plenty of room for each section to be completed.  Mom and I found some gorgeous suede-like fabric on clearance at Joann Fabrics that was perfect for the cover.  I purchased enough material to cover a smaller board (4′ x 3′) and 2 large boards (5’x 4′) for about $12.  We bought a 4′ x 8′ sheet of sub-flooring (luan) for about $13, and cut it into the 2 sizes I wanted.  Mom and I then glued the material on the boards and for about $25 total I have two beautiful jigsaw boards, and they are extremely nice for working puzzles. The fabric makes it so the pieces don’t slip around easily and the color makes a nice background contrast so the pieces are easier to see.

The smaller board fits puzzles up to approximately 3000 pieces and is the main one in use.  The larger one was primarily for my Disney monster, but is also needed for some bigger piece count puzzles I still have to get to. Plus I have a white board (dry erase) that I use when working on larger puzzles in bed, and various other boards that can be put to good puzzle use if need be. And let’s not forget my paper-lined cookie sheets that I use for our bathroom puzzles and for working on small puzzles in bed. 🛌🧩

Well, that’s where and how three generations of women in my family got/get their jig on. I’m certain most people’s homes aren’t as crazy with so many boards and places to work on jigsaw puzzles as mine is, but I’d love to hear where and how you puzzle.