Black Sheep Wool Farm by Roger Nannini – Ceaco – 300 pieces
Here’s another in the Home Sweet Home series from Ceaco and Roger Nannini, the pieces are thinner and easily bent, but the fit was excellent and the artwork made for a really fun assembly.
I’ve changed my tune about Ceaco puzzles recently, and am more likely to give them a try than I was before. I wish they used better chipboard that doesn’t split and bend so easily; but they have a lot of beautiful images to choose from and the fit is very good.
For some reason I really enjoyed the symmetry of the animals in the foreground. I don’t know that I can really explain why this pleases me, but it does.
The assembly was a little more challenging than I thought it would be. I started with the sky (that’s my usual starting place), and then assembled all the words. Buildings came next and they were really fun to put together. There were so many trees in the background it added a bit to the difficulty, but it was still a fun assembly all around.
This is a thrift store puzzle that has been assembled many times before, but if you find a newer one I would recommend giving it a try. The artwork makes for a fun puzzle!
This is a beautiful puzzle that was a little bit challenging, but altogether lovely to assemble. The artwork is charming, the quality was excellent, and the entire experience was entertaining.
I don’t always care for images with so much pastel or muted colors; but this one was quite fun to assemble. The number of different flowers made me really pay attention to patterns and shades, and added to the difficulty level. I enjoyed the artwork and the color palette very much, and would love to find more puzzles by this artist. I have done one other puzzle by Geraldine Aikman, but the color palette was brighter with more primary colors.
These premium Milton Bradley puzzles have very good quality. The pieces have a good feel, are made with thick chipboard and fit together very well. There are a good variety of piece shapes, and the image reproduction is true to the image on the box. Regular readers know I don’t usually comment on puzzle boxes, but these boxes have a “premium” feel and aren’t made of the relatively thin cardboard that you find on most puzzle boxes.
I love the detail on the inside of the shed – including the cat!
For a puzzle with only 300 pieces, this one offered enough of a challenge to keep my mind engaged and keep me occupied for a few hours. Exactly what a puzzler like me enjoys! I know 1000 piece puzzles are the “norm” and the most popular piece count, but at the moment I’m mostly doing 300 and 500 piece puzzles. I’m glad there are plenty of excellent choices in those pieces counts to keep me happily puzzling for quite some time.
Rooster Express by Charles Wysocki – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces
I love a Wysocki image that isn’t the norm, ones that maybe only have one house instead of many; or ones that feature something different, like this rooster. This puzzle is the perfect example of that.
Most puzzles by Charles Wysocki we’ve done are produced by Buffalo Games, every once in a while I come across one from another manufacturer. This beauty is made by Milton Bradley. The quality is very good; with thick pieces, excellent image reproduction, and a beautiful fit. It was a joy to assemble!
I assembled it a little differently than usual, I started from the top and put together the sky, buildings, and fields. Then I went to the bottom and assembled the road, wagon, and rooster. After that all that was left was the grass, which didn’t take much time at all. It was over too quickly! It was more fun than I thought it would be, those are my favorite types of puzzles. 🙂
Details:
Title:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Rooster Express
Artist:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Charles Wysocki
Brand:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Milton Bradley
Piece count:Â Â Â 300 pieces
Size:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased:Â Â Â Used, thrift store
Quality:
Board:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Excellent
Cutting:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Very good
Image:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Excellent
Box:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Average
Fit:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Very good
Puzzle Dust:Â Â Â Small amount
Piece cut:Â Â Â Â Â Grid cut
Piece shapes:Â Â Good variety
Finish:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
Among Friends by Howard Robinson – Ravensburger – 200 pieces
This is such a cute puzzle, I didn’t expect it to be as much of a challenge as it was. At 200 pieces it was the perfect puzzle at the perfect time.
Ravensburger puzzles are such great quality, they’re always a joy to assemble. Even opening the box and seeing the pieces makes me happy. I’ve heard that their quality has been declining, but I haven’t actually seen any of that so far. This puzzle was a thrift store purchase and it was the usual excellent Ravensburger quality with wonderfully thick pieces, a gorgeous image, and exceptional fit.
I’ve done several puzzles with artwork by Howard Robinson, and they’ve all been “cute”. His images are usually adorable animals that seem to have a personality, and they always make me smile – this puzzle is an excellent example of that. Charming animals aren’t always the images I’m looking for, and sometimes they can be quite difficult to assemble, but they do make me happy.
Sometimes cute and easy is exactly what I need. These days the “easy” is pretty important; I’ve pretty much been in bed all day every day since the beginning of April. I haven’t been able to do many 1000 piece puzzles, or even many 500 pieces. Puzzles that are 300 pieces or less are mostly what I’ve been doing; I’ve been surprised at how much I’m enjoying them. Puzzles are great fun for me and excellent for helping me deal with stress, anxiety, and chronic pain – it doesn’t matter how many pieces there are or how big it is. Puzzles make me happy regardless of the piece count. ☺
Sometimes I worry that I’m doing too many small puzzles or too many wooden puzzles and that these aren’t always what people want to see on my blog. I have to remind myself that this blog is about the puzzles that I do, and whatever puzzles I assemble are the ones that I write about. I don’t do puzzles for other people’s enjoyment, I do them for me. You can’t please everyone, and you shouldn’t try. I struggle to remember that sometimes.
So when a cutesy puzzle comes along, if I want to put it together, I do. If I have a good time putting it together that’s what’s important. If you enjoy reading about it – even better! If it’s not really your cup of tea (or pile of pieces), that’s ok. Maybe tomorrow’s puzzle will be perfect for you. 😎
The Petting Zoo by Art Poulin – MasterPieces – 300 pieces
This was a quick puzzle that I decided to put together without looking at the box; I guess I needed a little bit of extra challenge. There were plenty of animals and little details to help out with the assembly, and lots of words to put together too!
The quality of this puzzle was quite good; the pieces were very thick and the fit was exceptional. I’ve found that the large EZ grip puzzles from MasterPieces have much better quality than their regular puzzles, the chipboard they use is thicker and more dense and makes for an excellent tactile experience. The cut is random, which makes for interesting piece shapes and also makes you look more closely at the pieces and colors to find what you’re looking for.
I really enjoyed all the little details of this image, all the horse’s stalls have their names above them, and each of the pens had signs on them as well.
I love the art of Art Poulin, I’ve done several of his puzzles and enjoy the Americana/Folk images he produces. They bring to mind images of simpler times, when none of the kids had cell phones or tablets and were happy to spend time at the petting zoo interacting with the animals and being in nature.
It seems as if I’m becoming one of those little old ladies talking about how great things used to be – and I haven’t even turned 50 yet! 👵
My Jigsaw Journal 