Category: Jigsaw Puzzles

American Eagle

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

American Eage by Sharon Turner – Sure-Lox – 300 pieces

This is such beautiful artwork, I love the feeling of different colors and textures that form such a striking image. It was very quick to go together, and made for an excellent puzzling experience.

Sure-Lox puzzles used to be on my “never buy” list, but their quality has improved quite a bit. Their update with better quality and new packaging puts them nearer the middle of the road as far as quality brands for me. The pieces are thick and the fit is very good. The finish is quite shiny but otherwise the image reproduction is good as well. Only having one piece shape is a bummer, but in a 300 piece puzzle it isn’t quite as annoying to me – especially when the image is so interesting.

This is the first puzzle image from Sharon Turner that I’ve done, and I have to tell you that it was absolutely fabulous to assemble. The colors, textures, and overall artwork are just beautiful and it made for a really entertaining puzzle. I hope there are more of her images on puzzles for me to find.

Loved this one! 💖

Yeti for 2022

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles9 Comments

Yeti for 2022 – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

I know I just posted a MicroPuzzles puzzle a few days ago, but I’ve developed a health complication and haven’t been able to be at my board for the last several days. Unfortunately, it may be a week or more until I’m able to be back at the table; so the only puzzling available to me is in bed, on trays. Good thing there are so many mini puzzles from several different brands to keep me company. 😎

There are about 20 completed puzzles in the queue at the moment, so while my puzzling will be limited to smaller ones for now, you won’t be seeing them until nearer the end of January. But I always like to start the new year with a completed puzzle on January 1 – so we interrupt our December puzzles for a brand new one just completed this morning!

*Please forgive the less than optimal lighting, these pictures were taken in my bedroom, on a tray. I tried my best.*

This puzzle is from the MicroPuzzles subscription box I received in December, and it’s great having a New Year’s puzzle to share with you on New Year’s Day. Most of it was completed last year (yesterday), but I left a few pieces so that it would be the first completed puzzle of the new year. Isn’t it adorable?

Both this puzzle and the other one in the December subscription box have a little something extra too, something I haven’t seen before on any of the previous puzzles of theirs that I’ve done…

An image on the back as well! I saw all the snowflakes when I dumped out the pieces – they even helped me make sure I’d gotten the right pieces together along the edge. My assumption was that it was just a bunch of snowflakes on the back, but it was a lovely surprise when I flipped the completed puzzle over and saw the 2022. Very nice! The second December puzzle hasn’t been assembled yet, but I can see snowflakes on the backs of the pieces in the test tube; it could be the same image as above, or maybe something different – we’ll have to wait and see when I get to it.

It’s so nice for me to still be able to work on my puzzles when sitting up at the board isn’t an option, and having mini puzzles to work on to break up the monotony of watching television is a welcome distraction. There are many brands that have small puzzles that you can work on anywhere with just a little bit of space, and they make me very happy indeed!

Happy New Year to all my puzzle posse! I hope you are all safe and well, and here’s to a better year than the last. 💚🧩💚

Picker’s Haul

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Picker’s Haul by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 2000 pieces

This was my first 2000 piece in over a year and a half – and of course it had to be one of Aimee’s images. It’s darker than her usual images, but still had enough brightness, color, and detail. It’s beautiful, and I’m certainly proud of myself for getting it done. 💪

Buffalo puzzles are great quality, and this one was no different. Excellent reproduction, great fit and variety of piece shapes – just an overall wonderful puzzle. I’m warming up to their brand in the higher piece counts, though sometimes the sameness of the piece shapes annoys me for some reason I can’t quite put into words. Just my “interesting” brain at work I guess.

This is the shelf at the top of the image, it’s amazing that you can read the titles on the spines and covers of the books. Gorgeous reproduction!

Love this box of games, the detail is amazing and the bright blue color is lovely as well. This was one of the first sections that I put together.

There’s something about this little stagecoach, the look of it is beautiful. It was more difficult to find the pieces than many of the other sections, but the end result is worth it.

This puzzle was so enjoyable that I had a hard time walking away from it, and it went together pretty quickly as far as these things go. It was a Goldilocks assembly – not too easy, not too hard – just right! 💜

I haven’t been puzzling for very long this year, but for the couple of months that I’ve been back at the puzzle table it’s been a great time being on the blog with you all again. Thanks for hanging out with me every day, I don’t take it for granted.

It’s New Year’s Eve, if you’re going out please take care of yourselves and be safe. See you in 2022! 🎉🥳🎉

Dogs – Who’s A Good Boy!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Dog’s – Who’s A Good Boy! – MicroPuzzles – 150 pieces

This one was MUCH more challenging that I thought it would be. All that brown/tan fur on the paler teal background made for a difficult assembly. Most of the problem was that I don’t have adequate puzzle lighting in the powder room. 💡

Oh well, if they take a bit longer in there, it’s ok with me. With these small puzzles in the master bathroom it means I always have two puzzles going. Pardon the unintended pun. Pretty soon I’ll have to post two puzzles a day if I don’t slow down!

To be honest, I had to take this one out of the bathroom for a little bit and work on it in the puzzle room in the wee hours of the morning when I couldn’t sleep. The colors really were difficult to see where the puzzle was being assembled – I needed good light to get a more of a head start on the image. Once a little more of it was together it was easier to work on.

The fit of this puzzle was also a bit looser than the previous four we’ve worked on. It made things a bit more difficult until we had more of the interior assembled. But this doesn’t seem to be a universal problem with this brand, it was most likely just near the end of the run when the die was more dull.

This is the first dog puzzle I’ve assembled since we lost our good, good boy. It was very sweet, and very cute – just like most dogs are, and like our Buddy was.

We miss him. 💗🐶

Party Balloons

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

Party Balloons by Suzan Lind – Cobble Hill – 500 pieces

Isn’t this a great puzzle image? As soon as I saw it I knew I had to get it, it was just too beautiful to pass up! The colors and patterns made for such an entertaining assembly – I wish it were also available in 1000 pieces, that would be even more fun.

The quality of this particular puzzle wasn’t as good as Cobble Hill usually is. I know that with the pandemic and the huge increase in demand for puzzles, things have been crazy in the puzzle world with manufacturers doing their best to get puzzles out and into the hands of puzzlers as soon as they can. I have history with this brand, so I know that their quality is usually quite good; therefore, even though this puzzle had a few problems I know that it isn’t indicative of the brand’s normally excellent quality.

That said, I should tell you that this puzzle had a very loose fit; many pieces were slightly bent, and some pieces that had very thin necks (spaces in between holes) were bent almost to the point of being torn in half. Because of all the bent pieces the finished puzzle didn’t lie completely flat; making the puzzle massage at the end of assembly not nearly as satisfying as usual.

It was still fun to assemble though and the finished puzzle is gorgeous. It has been put in a box to send on to the next puzzler for them to enjoy!