Yesterday’s post got so many comments about this puzzle in particular that I thought I would update it this morning – I made some excellent headway on it. 😎
This is hands down the absolute worst quality puzzle that I’ve ever worked on, but I am stubbornly determined to assemble the image itself at the very least. I will most likely not finish the top and bottom edges or fill in the blue, it will be too frustrating. Hubby wants to work on those, so I will absolutely leave that to him – he’s just as stubborn as I am. If the top and bottom sections don’t get done though, I don’t really care.
The only full image of the puzzle on the box is about 1 x 1.5 inches – way too small to give any assistance. Whoever designed this box obviously doesn’t assemble jigsaw puzzles, how in the world is such a tiny image supposed to help you? I had my laptop sitting next to the board yesterday and brought up the image on the screen – that was a huge help!
I’ll try and do a little more work on it today, but it’s obviously going to take several more days to put the whole thing together. Whenever it gets done is fine with me – I’m in no hurry at all.
I’ve got two puzzles in progress at the moment, I can’t seem to get my brain to settle on just one. This first one mom found unopened at the thrift store for 39 cents. The box is extremely small for a 500 piece puzzle which means the pieces are quite small as well. Once we opened the box, we saw that the quality was less than optimal – very thin pieces with an unbelievably loose fit. Ugh. I started assembling it at least 2 times before and put it away because I wasn’t in the right mood to deal with the poor quality.
I’m not sure why I’m in the mood for it now, but at the moment I really want to see this puzzle assembled; partly because nowhere on the box is a picture of the entire puzzle image – frustrating! And if I’ve got 2 puzzles going I can take a break from the horrible quality of this one and work on one that isn’t as annoying
Well Head by Richard Welker
The image on this puzzle is much brighter and easier to work with, and even though it’s a Ceaco puzzle the quality is many times better than the Norman Rockwell puzzle (which is made by Kappa Books Publisher). The fit is much nicer and the pieces aren’t nearly as thin.
So I’ve got 2 puzzles going, but for some reason neither of them is my newest wooden puzzle that was my anniversary present. I’m not sure when my weird old lady brain will be in the right mood for that one. I think it’s partly because I’m missing working on puzzles with mom; I haven’t been able to have any puzzle/visit days with her for the last 3 weeks. Every puzzle is much more fun when mom and I work together, and a new wooden puzzle is something we both love to assemble.
We won’t be able to have our visit day this week either, so perhaps I’m just too bummed about that to start on the new Liberty puzzle. We’ll have to wait and see I suppose.
Things have been crazy this year and I didn’t have a puzzle ready for Mother’s Day. I decided yesterday to try and find a great picture of her and use the Ji Ga Zo program and put together a puzzle of my mom. It isn’t perfect, but I like it, and what better puzzle to show than that of one of my favorite people in the world?
This is my mother’s graduation picture from 1965. Wasn’t she a dish? Hot stuff!
My gorgeous momma!
I used this picture in Ji Ga Zo to make a mosaic puzzle of her. If you’d like to know more about the program and how it works, click the link to see my original post about this puzzle game. It took a while to get the picture cropped properly and the contrast right, but she’s worth it. 😎 I wasn’t able to get it all assembled at once, but finished the mosaic this morning. Here she is….
I like to show both pictures together so you can see how close you can actually get with just sepia tones. It isn’t an exact reproduction, but it’s pretty darn close and very entertaining to assemble. It gets better the farther away you are, if you step back from the computer (or hold your phone farther away) it becomes more “clear”. It’s a fun puzzle/game, and mom and I love playing with it and seeing which pictures would make the best puzzles. I think we may be working together to use dad’s graduation picture for a Father’s Day post this year!
My gorgeous momma!
Ji Ga Zo – 300 pieces
My mom is one of the best people I know. She’s flawed, like all of the rest of us; but she’s also kind and loving, smart and well-spoken, funny and silly, open and honest, empathetic and forgiving, and my very best friend. It seems cliche to say that, so many people do – but she truly is. When I’m hormonal and hating the world she’s the only one I want to talk to. When I’m depressed and anxious, she can make me smile and forget my troubles if only for a little while. When I’m tired and getting stupid silly she laughs with me and understands my ridiculous jokes and comments. When I worry about everything (and nothing) she’s always there to listen and just let me know she cares.
She’s also my puzzle dealer, and my favorite person to assemble puzzles with. We have almost a shorthand and work together extremely well. We tease each other, cuss at each other, and give high fives when one of us completes a section or finds that wayward piece. She’s my puzzle posse! Probably 90-95% of the puzzles we assemble come from her thrift store shopping, and as much as it annoys my dad to wade through the piles of puzzles, he knows how happy it makes me and mom and he puts up with it. Most of the time. (He’s pretty damn cool too!)
Being her daughter makes me very proud, and being her friend makes my life better. Happy Mother’s Day mom – I love you to puzzle pieces! ❤
It’s mom’s birthday this week, and I thought I’d re-post some of the puzzles that we did together, and some of the ones I’ve done that remind me of her. She’s pretty damned awesome for a little old lady and I love her to bits❣
She’s a black belt thrift store shopper who keeps us both extremely well stocked in puzzles, and there’s no one else I’d rather sit and puzzle with. She’s also quite an enabler; when I’m looking at puzzles to buy she’s right there telling me all the reasons why I SHOULD buy whatever it is I’m looking at. “What’s the sense in having money if you can’t spend it on things that you enjoy?” “Can you afford it? Yes? Then what’s the problem? Your husband doesn’t care, he wants you to be happy.” She’s excellent at enabling me!
Mom is truly my best friend and my puzzle posse all rolled into one, so today’s post is dedicated to her and just a few of the puzzles that make me think of her. (Click on any of the links to see my original posts for each puzzle) Enjoy the trip down puzzle memory lane – Happy Birthday Momma! 👵🎂🎉
Birthday Party – Puzzlebug – 500 pieces
Mom and I both assembled Birthday Party separately, and neither of us liked it much. This is before we became huge puzzle snobs and she became a little more choosy about the brands she bought at the thrift store. I thought it was a perfect puzzle for today’s post though. 🙂
Mom is the only member of my family who helped me with every single panel of Disney Memorable Moments. She always listened to me whenever I wanted to talk about it and never seemed bored or disinterested for the entire 6 months it took me to finish. My mom rocks!
Country Kitchen by Janet Kruskamp – White Mountain – 1000 pieces
This Country Kitchen reminds me of my mom, she used to have an almost identical stove that she got from her grandmother. She was always cooking and canning and this would have been close to her ideal kitchen.
Black Cat by Steinlen – Eurographics – 1000 pieces
Black Cat (Chat Noir)- ugh! Mom and I DESPISED this puzzle! It makes me laugh now to think of it, but it was so difficult and frustrating that we both would have gladly set it on fire if we weren’t so stubborn about finishing it. It’s the only puzzle I ever was glad that it had a piece missing – because it was extremely satisfying to put this bleeping thing in the garbage can. 😈
What TV Show Is That? – Buffalo – 252 pieces
We had the best time with this puzzle, What TV Show Is That?, it was so much fun! We also assembled What Word is That? which was more difficult, but still completely entertaining. She’s on the lookout for more puzzles in the same vein because they’re so great to work on together.
In Dreams by Geoffrey Gersten – Artifact Puzzles – 116 pieces
In Dreams was my birthday present from mom last year – a gorgeous wooden puzzle with such wonderfully interesting pieces. I think I’ve already assembled it 3 or 4 times, maybe more. 😉
Canned Veggies – Springbok – 500 pieces
I picked Canned Veggies to review because it reminds me of my youth and the time spent with mom in the kitchen helping her with the canning (mostly unwillingly). I look back on it fondly now, but at the time I was completely a bratty little kid about it. LOL
Mother and Daughter (1) – Falcon de luxe – 500 pieces
Mother and Daughter (1) was the first of two puzzles in one box that I bought specifically because the woman in the image reminds me of mom. The pictures of her from when I was young look amazingly similar to the lovely lady shown here. Beautiful puzzle!
Flower Still Life by Severin Roesen – Artifact Puzzles – 330 pieces
Flower Still Life was my Christmas present for mom last year, she picked it out herself. It’s a bit dark for my taste, but it’s a lovely image and the artistic cut of the pieces made for a challenging but extremely wonderful assembly.
Loose Change – White Mountain – 550 pieces
Since today is National Tax Day, I thought Loose Change would be an appropriate puzzle to share. Mom and I completed this on one of our puzzle/visit days and it was quite difficult! I was pretty proud of us for sticking with it and not letting all those pennies beat us.
Mother and Daughter (2) by F. Sands Bruner – Falcon de luxe – 500 pieces
Mother and Daughter (2) is my gift to mom for her birthday this year, along with a triple chocolate mess cake. It’s been glued and is waiting for us to find the perfect frame for display. She’s been knitting and crocheting my whole life, taught me how to as well, and this puzzle is perfect for her (looks just like her too!)
Enjoy your birthday this week mom, and I’m looking forward to another year of amazing thrift store finds, enabling, and many, many puzzle/visit days spending time together. Love you to puzzle pieces! ❤
World Landmarks by Adrian Chesterman – Educa – 42000 pieces
I’ve been checking every few weeks, and I just found this giant of a puzzle for sale in the United States! If you’ve been looking for this, I’ve found it on Amazon for quite a reasonable price with free shipping!
I’d love to see this in person and look at how the pieces fit together, but I don’t know if that’s realistic unless I purchase it for myself. I’m not planning on buying it, but I’d love to hear from anyone who has. Adrian Chesterman’s work is always bright and colorful and incredibly detailed – I’d be thrilled to see this one up close.
Planning on attempting this puzzle? I wish you luck, and I’ll be cheering you on!
My Jigsaw Journal 