Hound of the Baskervilles

Hound of the Baskervilles
Hound of the Baskervilles by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 300 pieces

This is another interesting but entertaining Charles Wysocki image, and even at only 300 pieces it made for a little bit of a challenge. The tree in the foreground, for example, was more difficult than I gave it credit for. I thought this one would be a breeze, and some parts were, but it wasn’t as easy as I’d assumed it would be.

The name didn’t make sense to me until I really started to look at the image; obviously the storyteller in the foreground is telling the story of The Hound of the Baskervilles to his audience. At least that is the conclusion I came to.

Hound of the Baskervilles 1

Traveling storytellers used to be a thing. Back before radio, television, and telephones, all you got was the information found in the newspapers. There were serial stories in some papers, but unless you lived in a city or town you didn’t have access to a paper every day or week.

Hound of the Baskervilles 2

This man seems as though he’s not just telling a story, he’s acting parts of it out and giving it all he’s got. Good for him! Without access to anything other than stories from their families, I can imagine that it would have been terribly exciting to have a professional storyteller in the neighborhood to tell stories you’d never heard of. Imagine having a Sherlock Holmes detective story told to you in such a dramatic fashion, it must have been so entertaining!

Hound of the Baskervilles 3

I’m admitting that I have no idea what this sign means. If this town is where food processing is done, it’s possible that marinating was done specifically in one place. But this doesn’t look like a food processing plant, it looks like someone’s home. I’m intrigued, but confused about the name.

This puzzle was fun to put together, had great quality, and a beautiful image. There’s not much more you can ask for, is there?

Coastal Getaway

Coastal Getaway
Coastal Getaway by Alan Giana – MasterPieces – 300 pieces

Coastal Getaway is such a pretty scene, and it made for an entertaining assembly. There are only 300 EZ grip pieces that are thick and sturdy, with a nice fit and stellar image reproduction. I always enjoy puzzles with large pieces, for some reason they make me extremely happy. 🙂

Coastal Getaway 1

I love lighthouses; the color of the light is so beautiful on this one, and the trees all around it are gorgeous.

Coastal Getaway 2

The stairs leading down to the beach were really fun to assemble, and I love the shells tucked up at the top; it’s something I would have done when I was younger so I wouldn’t forget to take them with me when I went home.

Coastal Getaway 3

There’s something about this sailboat, and the lone person sailing it – I love the look of it; Alan Giana’s artwork is colorful and beautiful. This whole puzzle was a great image with lovely quality and I had a great time!

What’s a Fancy Girl to Do?

Fancy Nancy
What’s a Fancy Girl to Do? by Robin Preiss Glasser – Briarpatch – 100 pieces

I love me some Fancy Nancy, and what girl can resist some glitter? Not me! Even though this is a thrift store puzzle that I knew had been WELL LOVED, it was still entertaining for me to assemble it.

As you can see there are many tabs where the image is lifting, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the puzzle. And despite the delamination of the image I found the fit to be excellent. Even with this thrift store puzzle obviously having been assembled many times it still had a great fit. So much so that I was able to do one of my favorite things – stand it up…

Fancy Nancy 1

Even though it shows even more plainly the poor condition of this puzzle, this picture makes me happy. Fancy Nancy makes me happy. She’s a girl who doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her, she just wants to be who she is – she is me!

Let’s Play Football

Let's Play Football
Let’s Play Football by Linda Picken – Karmin – 550 pieces

This is another thrift store puzzle that mom bought (I still probably have a year or more of thrift store puzzles that she bought to get through). Even though Karmin quality isn’t great I did this one because she bought it – and I love dogs and dog puzzles!

As soon as I opened the box and felt the pieces I knew it wouldn’t be the best quality or assembly. The fit wasn’t great and the pieces were pretty thin, but it was a fantastically adorable image and at least all the pieces were there. And I just cannot resist doggy faces, they’re the best!

Let's Play Football 1

Happily playing tug-of-war with a scarf, so cute! I started with the scarf because they were the easiest pieces to pick out, other than the sky most of the pieces were different shades of brown. The scarf leads to two adorable, happy puppy faces – irresistable!

Let's Play Football 2

The smiling face of this dog, and the scarf makes me think of Lady from Lady and the Tramp. It looks a little like the same breed, even though I don’t think it is; it’s really the smiling face.

Let's Play Football 3

You know I can’t resist a sad puppy face either. It just makes me want to give belly rubs and pets and scratches everywhere to make this little guy/girl happy!

Even with less than premium quality, this puzzle was entertaining for me; they don’t all have to be perfect for me to enjoy them. The quality wasn’t the best, but I had a good time anyway; watching the faces come together, figuring out the best way to assemble the sky, finding those pieces of the football that I didn’t pick out the first time, etc. I needed quiet, meditative distraction and this puzzle provided it.

Perfect puppy profiles provided puzzle play, plus peaceful pondering. 🧩💗

If My People…

If My People
If My People by Jack E. Dawson – Sunsout – 500 pieces

This image is fabulous, but unfortunately the quality of the puzzle didn’t match. This puzzle had the thinnest pieces I’ve ever seen from Sunsout – it almost felt like a Cardinal puzzle from the dollar store. The fit wasn’t great either. In addition, a missing piece and two pieces that had been chewed by a pet or a child. Why would someone donate a puzzle like that? I don’t get it.

The image of hands repairing a battle-worn American flag is absolutely beautiful, and I truly wish it had been licensed to a company with better quality. That seems harsh, and it is; but this is my blog – about the puzzles I do and my opinions about them. That is my opinion.

Even for Sunsout this was terrible quality. Thin, bendable pieces and a bad fit made it less than pleasurable to work with. I finished it because my mom bought it, we both adored the image, and I wanted to see it through for her. If those things weren’t attached to it I’m not sure I would have kept going with such a terrible quality puzzle.

The artwork was painted after the 9-11 attacks and inspired by a Bible verse from 2 Chronicles. It contains hidden images; of the twin towers with rising smoke, of evil, of someone praying, and more. They were hard to find in the reproduced image, and even harder to photograph so that I could show you here. You can see, even without a closeup, the nail imprint on the left hand showing that it is Jesus mending the flag. If you’d like to see all of the hidden images you can check out the artist’s website which shows each hidden image and its meaning. (As a side note, the box this puzzle came in had absolutely no information about this artwork, the hidden images, or the artist).

This was a thrift store purchase, so as happens sometimes my puzzle had a couple of issues – the obvious missing piece in the flag, and the fact that someone or something used a couple of the pieces as a chew toy. Missing pieces happen, it isn’t a big deal to me. The chewed up pieces annoy me though. If you’re donating puzzles and you know a couple of pieces are chewed up – just don’t donate. Again, this is just my opinion.

If My People 1

These two pieces look relatively alright here, but they were mangled and I had to work to get them back in the right shape and fitted together. You can see the creases in the pieces to show how bent they were. Annoying.

Great image, terrible quality – it seems like I say that about Sunsout puzzles quite a bit, doesn’t it? They’ve been added to my boycott list along with Ceaco, it just isn’t worth the frustration for me. I need to be strong and resist the temptation when I see a fabulous image from a company that doesn’t have good quality. Sounds simple, but it’s not always easy for me to resist a beautiful image, I must admit. I’m a bit of a puzzle junkie.

Shocked? I know, right?! 😇