Laundry Day

On September 7, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

It seems like forever since I’ve assembled a Ravensburger, and my daughter found this adorable puzzle on clearance while we were at the bookstore. How could I pass it up? The answer is – I couldn’t! I suffer from PADS, and my happiness was directly tied to finding fun puzzles to assemble, thankfully there were a LOT of beautiful puzzles on clearance and I was a very happy little old puzzle lady that day. 😁

At only 300 pieces, I was able to put this one together in bed on the white board. I needed to be working on a puzzle, but wasn’t feeling well enough to sit at my puzzle table. The smaller piece counts are not only just as fun to assemble as larger piece counts (they are for me anyway), but they’re great when I want to puzzle but have to be in bed. I also find them to be an excellent palate cleanser for when I’m stuck or frustrated with a larger piece count that I’m working on, or after I’ve finished a particularly difficult image.

This unbelievably cute image by Adrian Chesterman was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but that was a nice surprise. The challenge was welcome, and the puppies were too cute!

The quality, of course, was exceptional; Ravensburger puzzles usually are. The feel of the pieces in my hand was lovely – I think I’ve assembled so many of their puzzles that I would be able to tell which pieces were theirs if I was blindfolded! When I get a Ravensburger, one of the first things I do is open the box and grab some pieces and just run my fingers across them. They are a great thickness, and the finish feels wonderful in my hands.

Also, when I’m holding a piece and thinking about where it should go, I find that I absentmindedly rub it with my thumb. It’s always nice to have a premium quality puzzle that has a good hand feel, and Ravensburger is definitely in that category for me.

This puzzle made me very happy, it was great on all counts – quality, image, and assembly. It gets two wet noses way, way up! 🐶🐶

Petrified Wood Mosaic

On September 5, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles5 Comments

This image is so different and interesting; mom and I both loved it as soon as we saw it. I opened the box several times when I was looking for my next puzzle, but always put it back because it looked so difficult and it wasn’t the right time (also I wanted to work on it with mom and she wasn’t always able to come play puzzle with me).

It had great quality, thick pieces, and a nice fit too. The only minus was that there was only one piece shape, it seems that there are quite a few puzzles out there with just the one shape, and personally I would love it if they branched out a bit and added more interesting, or even just “other” shapes.

The box for this one said Fitting Reminder, but there was also a notation that it was from American Greetings Corporation. There was no date on the box, but it looks quite old. I’m guessing it’s most likely from the 80’s. It was a very cool puzzle!

There were so many darkish muddled looking pieces that it was a bit difficult. But once I got going I enjoyed the challenge and it was hard for me to get up and walk away from it. It’s so very different than most puzzle images, and I got sucked into “just one more piece” over and over again.

This puzzle very much makes me think of mom, and I ended up taping the back of it so that I could keep it. It makes me extremely sad that we didn’t have a chance to work on it together, we would have had a great time; and there would have been a quite a bit of little old lady cussing too, I’m sure. 👵

There are so many puzzles here that mom found for us and that we were both looking forward to assembling together. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been wanting new puzzles lately, the older ones all have memories attached – and all those memories are primarily of my mom. I guess I’m trying to hold on to those as long as I can.

Monsters

On September 3, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

I enjoyed this more than I expected to. I haven’t done a cartoon puzzle in a while and I forgot how much fun I find them. The bright colors make me very happy, and the easier sorting is a bonus as well.

Monsters 1

I started with Mike, the green was easy to find and I loved the character too. Every time I look at it I hear Boo yelling “Mike Wazowski!” in the movie. So cute!

Monsters 2

There were an abundance of eyes, and I worked on them next. So many eyes! This puzzle was completely absorbing and entertaining, it reminded me how much I like cartoony puzzles. I bought this one on the insistence of my daughter, it seems she knows better than I do what puzzles I would enjoy – I should take her shopping with me every time. 😉

Mexican Guitars

On September 1, 2019September 1, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles5 Comments

I enjoyed this puzzle way too much, and I wish I’d been able to find a 1000 piece of this image – it went by too fast!

The quality was excellent, with thick pieces that had a dry feeling finish that felt good in my hands. The fit was exceptional, and I was able to pick up the entire puzzle with one hand. I liked the angled sort of grid cut too, it made for interesting piece shapes. Sometimes Milton Bradley Big Ben puzzles aren’t such good quality as this; I was happy to find this one wasn’t lacking at all.

I’ve got another Big Ben puzzle in the to do pile, with an awesome image that I’m very much looking forward to. Having completed this one, it makes me want to get going on the next one even sooner.

If I come across the 1000 piece of this image, I’m definitely getting it. I absolutely LOVED this puzzle!

Coral Reef (The Moving Puzzle)

On August 30, 2019August 30, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

This is a VERY interesting puzzle that I found in the trunk of my mom’s car. She bought it at the thrift store, but didn’t have a chance to show it to me before she went into the hospital. It was extremely entertaining, and she would have loved working on it with me; I would have loved working on it with her too.

It’s called The Moving Puzzle, and is made by the Great American Puzzle Factory. On the box it says “The never-ending, always moving jigsaw puzzle!!” On the back of the box it tells you that there are two ways to approach this tricky image. You can assemble the picture so that it matches the image on the box top, then change your picture by moving the pieces from top to bottom, left to right and so on. Or, you can pick any piece and build your puzzle from it, all the pieces will fit together and the image will grow in all directions, it doesn’t have to be a rectangular puzzle.

I assembled it the first way to begin with. The picture above is the puzzle assembled as it is on the box top; then I started moving things around…

Coral Reef 1

Then I moved many things around and changed the puzzle to be rectangular again, I’m showing it next to the original way it was assembled so that it’s easier to see the differences…

Coral Reef by Lambert and Samborski – Great American Puzzle Factory – 294 pieces

It’s a pretty cool concept, and it was fun to move things around and make the image change. I will say though that everything doesn’t always line up exactly right. If you assemble it to look like the box top the image is fine. When you see where things can move and start changing the puzzle the image doesn’t always line up perfectly. (Just an observation from a puzzle nerd who looks closely at those things 🤓)

At only 294 pieces, it would be great for kids too. This one will end up at the school my daughter works for, and I hope those children enjoy it as much as I did.

It’s a great quality puzzle; the pieces are extremely thick and the colors are lovely with very nice image reproduction. There is only one piece shape, and I cant really comment on the fit because they really only snug up next to each other, they don’t interlock. It wasn’t much of a problem for me because my puzzle board is covered with fabric, but if you work on a slippery surface it would most likely be quite frustrating.

Mom always found the most interesting puzzles when she went thrift store shopping. If you find a Moving Puzzle, give it a try – it’s a different puzzle experience, that’s for sure.