Rainy Day Sketch In Progress

On March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Rainy Day Sketch IP — Rainy Day Sketch by Tricia Reilly-Matthews – Sunsout – 500 pieces

I just started working on this puzzle early this morning – up at 4 am – yay. I finished my Stacey & Ruth puzzle yesterday, and picked this one out, but didn’t touch it at all until this morning.

Picking out puzzles is sometimes a bit crazy for me. I seem to forget the previous negative experiences I’ve had with a certain brand unless they were over the top terrible, and I want to think that this next time is going to be amazing (a bit like having kids 😉 ). Sunsout has provided me with some amazing puzzling experiences, and some that weren’t so great. When I see an image I really like from a certain brand it overrides the negative and I only seem to remember the good ones.

I found two really adorable Sunsout puzzles on my last shopping trip before we were all told to stay home and socially isolate ourselves. My desire for a few new puzzles and the cute images on the boxes completely wiped out most of the negative Sunsout experiences I’ve had previously. Needless to say, I bought two new puzzles from this brand; now that I’ve started working with this one I remember why this isn’t a brand I usually purchase. 😐

The fit isn’t great, and even though I’m not even a third of the way through this puzzle there have been many, many pieces that seem to fit where they do not belong, and when they do fit it feels “mushy”. You can’t really be certain you’ve got it right unless or until it connects to other pieces around it. I. Am. Not. A. Fan. Of. This.

Oh well. Lesson learned. For now.

Classic Games

On March 22, 2020March 22, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Classic Game was a lot of fun to assemble, and therefore it went together pretty quickly. When I’m having a good time I find it hard to stop. We addicts are like that sometimes. 😉

Collages like this are easier for me to assemble quickly because sorting into sections is easy, and I am able to take my containers and trays into bed and work on them there when sitting up is difficult. White Mountain has so many beautiful, interesting, colorful, and educational collages that I can always find one (or twelve) that I would like to assemble.

Classic Games 1

This made me laugh, Samuel Clemens is a scary/creepy looking dude (in my opinion), and Authors doesn’t sound like a game many children would want to play. I wonder how popular this was.

Classic Games 2

I remember having this game as a child, but I’m trying to remember how to play it – because I don’t recall it being educational. Maybe it was one of those games that was so much fun to play that you don’t notice you’re learning anything. I can’t say for sure, because all I can remember is that we had this game, there is no memory of anything else. (Gee, I hope it wasn’t a memory game!)

Classic Games 3

Mom taught me how to play Chinese Checkers when I was young, and she told me how her mother taught her how to play when she was young. There are such good memories of playing this with her and trying to figure out how she was so much better at it than I was; it was probably because grownups are a little better at strategy than young children are. We had fun being together and talking while we played Chinese Checkers, and this game will always be special to me. 💗

As usual I loved this puzzle – a bright, colorful collage of games – what’s not to like? It was a very good quality puzzle that I found to be a joy both to look at and to put together. If you’re a fan of games, collages, or White Mountain puzzles in general I would absolutely recommend giving this one a try.

The Retrievers

On March 21, 2020March 21, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

My goodness was this puzzle adorably entertaining! The Retriever family’s wall of family photos made for such a fun and slightly challenging puzzle. If you find this one out there I would definitely recommend it; not only did I have a great time, but it was an excellent quality puzzle too.

I loved the size and fit of the 750 piece Buffalo, there have only been a couple other Buffalo puzzles of this piece count that I’ve assembled before. I enjoyed it very much and found the quality to be excellent. The chipboard was a good thickness, the fit and image reproduction were both exceptional. It makes me want to find some more 750 piece Buffalo puzzles with great images. 🙂

The Retrievers 1

How adorable is this face? No wonder Golden Retrievers are such a popular breed! All the different frames made sorting a bit easier, and once they were put together there weren’t as many pieces that were just the background wallpaper.

The Retrievers 2

The cuteness of this entire image made it really entertaining for me. This was a moderately easy assembly, but it did have enough difficulty to make it fun. Barking fun!

It gets four paws way up and is highly recommended. 🐾🐾

Common Quilt Blocks

On March 19, 2020March 19, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

I ADORED this puzzle – it was so much fun! Cobble Hill quality is excellent, and I enjoyed the random cut of the pieces and the beautiful colors. The fabrics were so interesting too, a lot of them would make ugly clothes but they do make lovely quilt blocks. 😉

Cobble Hill has such a great catalog of puzzle images, after assembling this one the PADS is flaring up and I want to get a whole bunch more of their puzzles. I love the feel of the pieces and the way they fit together – just a great quality puzzle all around. Someone needs to take my credit cards for a day or two, I’m feeling the need for some new puzzles!

Quilt Blocks 1

Great name to go with a great fabric pattern. I loved that all the quilt block patterns have names, and I found that it helped quite a bit with the assembly.

And of course I loved these two patterns because they had the word puzzle in their names! Old Maid’s Puzzle and Dutchman’s Puzzle, obviously they are my favorites. 😁

And now I have this burning desire to find and assemble every single quilt block puzzle there is – and I know there are quite a few. I enjoyed this one so much that it leaves me wanting more. Quilts and quilt blocks make for highly entertaining puzzles, at least they do for me. Perhaps it’s the neat, orderly rows and the fact that they’re put in some kind of order; it may be soothing for my OCD.

Whatever the reason, I’d love to get my hands on some more quilt block puzzles. I highly recommend you give this one a try, it was too much fun! 💝

Cocoa Puffs

On March 17, 2020March 17, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

So much fun! There’s something about cereal that brings out the kid in you, and this 100 piece puzzle of a cereal box was no different. Like most small piece count puzzles it was over very quickly, but sometimes that’s perfect. I’m cuckoo for this Cocoa Puffs puzzle! 🤪

I put the box away and just worked it by colors and shapes; which is my way of thoroughly enjoying the image and only paying attention to the puzzle itself. It’s also a way to help a smaller piece count puzzle last just a little bit longer. This is my least favorite cereal out of the six in the pack, and I’ll be working them in reverse order – ending with my favorite of the six. Which one will that be? I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to find out!

My absolute favorite cereal is Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch, but it isn’t a General Mills cereal so unfortunately it’s not in this multipack. The General Mills cereals in this pack are: Cocoa Puffs, Lucky Charms, Cheerios, Trix, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Honey Nut Cheerios. Which one is your favorite?

I don’t believe I’ve ever worked a 100 piece White Mountain puzzle before, and the quality was about the same as their 1000 piecers. Thick pieces, very good fit, excellent image reproduction. These are a bit pricey for only a total of 600 pieces, but they’re great for working with young ones, or even by yourself if you’re a kid at heart like me. 👵=👧

These were very good quality mini puzzles, much better than my last 100 piece puzzle set! I had a great time putting this one together, and I’m looking forward to finishing them all. At the moment two of these cereal puzzles have been assembled, and the third one is on my board this morning. Yum.

☘ Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ☘