Tag: 1000 pieces

The Junk Journaler’s Desk In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlingLeave a comment

The Junk Journaler’s Desk by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

There’s just something about an Aimee Stewart image that makes me unbelievably happy. It isn’t just the colors, it’s how they work together, and how so many seemingly disparate things come together to form such a cohesive and pleasing image. Not only is it pleasing to the eye, they’re almost always extremely fun to assemble.

When I was working on this yesterday I was thinking to myself how you couldn’t really tell what’s what on most of the pieces; and then after going through them only once to pull out some pieces I began to recognize colors and textures and have more of an idea where they might go and which pieces would fit together with them. Every time I went through them I got more and more familiar with them and where they belonged.

It’s one of those images where you could use the poster or box image, but I also find it entertaining to just let the pieces take me where they may and eventually it all fits together.

I’m having such a good time that I overdid the puzzling yesterday and am already feeling it this morning. Here’s hoping my pain meds and a few cups of coffee get me back to the board and this gorgeous puzzle quickly!

Blackbirds Roost at Mill Creek

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Blackbirds Roost at Mill Creek by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

This beautiful fall-themed Americana image by Charles Wysocki was absolutely perfect for puzzling with just enough challenge to keep me on my toes. I can’t recommend it enough, it was truly entertaining.

It was a typical Buffalo quality puzzle with a very good fit. In each of my quality categories this puzzle was above average, and actually has me wishing I’d chosen another of their puzzles to assemble next. There are many, many, many Buffalo puzzles here to choose from, so most likely they’ll be up in the rotation again soon.

Long time readers know how I feel about quilts in a puzzle, and you won’t be surprised to find that after the border that was the very first thing I assembled. Usually it’s the words, but as I told ya’ll in an “in progress” post my youngest son put almost all the words together while I was resting. It’s a good thing I’m such an understanding momma, otherwise….🤬

Every time I look at the pumpkins in this image the stems remind me of the Whos in Whoville – those curlicues on top of their heads. Is it just me or do any of you see it too?

There’s so much to say about this little section. Whale Oil. Wow. I just love the look of this carriage; the fact that he’s sitting on the barrels instead of the seat, the bright blue sign, the silly name, the dog – all of it together makes for an image that just makes me smile.

When I think of a Wysocki image, for some reason it brings to mind a small town way out in the countryside, surrounded by miles and miles of forest. That doesn’t seem like the best place for a fish market or a lobster restaurant! It’s ridiculously silly of course, a small “country” town can be anywhere, even close enough to the ocean to sell whale oil, fresh fish, and lobsters.

I thought this would be an entertaining assembly, and I was right – but it was even more fun than I thought it would be! Even all those bare trees at the top weren’t that difficult, and I was pretty proud of myself for finishing them as quickly as I did.

There are plenty of Wysocki images here to do, I’m sure I’ve barely made a dent in his catalog of artwork. Thank goodness I won’t be running out any time soon. 😍

Trick or Treat!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Trick or Treat! by Dean MacAdam – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

Trick or Treat! Ain’t she an adorable puzzle? This image is just so fun I absolutely had to get it for myself, and even though it’s quite a busy scene with lots of little things to see and people to assemble it was more entertaining than I’d even hoped. If you can’t tell already I absolutely adored this puzzle and can’t recommend it enough. 🧡🖤🎃🖤🧡

The quality was fantastic and I couldn’t stop running my hands over the completed sections. The hand feel is amazing and every other thing I look for in a quality puzzle was even better than anticipated. The fit was exceptional, the reproduction is bright and crisp and stunning, variety in piece shapes, thick chipboard – it was all premium quality. But what else can you expect from this brand? Ravensburger is my favorite for many reasons, and this puzzle was spectacular.

The artwork by Dean MacAdam was a joy to assemble – and I started with this lovely lady here. Those polka dots stood out; all that pink in a sea of orange and black was easy to find and put together and there’s just something about her makes me smile. Perhaps it’s the stunned look on her face.

It’s just too cute, that’s all I can say about this little skeleton puppers named Wally. Too friggin’ adorable!

Mr. Creepy here needed his picture shown, it is Halloween after all so we need just a little bit of spooky. Why is it that clowns seem so damn creepy to me? Do they seem creepy to anyone else?

I had a great time putting this puzzle together, and I hope to get to another Dean MacAdam puzzle very soon. Penny has graciously sent me a copy of Goldilocks Gets Caught!, and it looks like it’ll be a little easier than this one was but still very entertaining. His artwork makes for very fun puzzling and when you add that with a quality brand you get great puzzles like this one.

Happy Halloween everyone! Stay safe, and enjoy! 👻🦇🎃

*Anyone besides me looking forward to Halloween candy being on sale for half price tomorrow? Time to stock up!🍬🍭🍫*

Halloween Library

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles3 Comments

Halloween Library by Caitlin Betsy Bell – Unknown Manufacturer – 1000 pieces

For such an adorable image, I was surprised at how much I wanted to quit working on this assembly before it was finished. But because I kept changing my mind about whether or not to keep going, it eventually got to the point where finding each piece got quicker and quicker; and by then there was no way I was going to let this cutesy little puzzle beat me!

Oddly there was no puzzle brand name anywhere on the box that I could find. If there was one, I’d be telling you to pass this brand up and that your puzzle budget is better spent elsewhere. The pieces are thin, with a plain cardboard backing that had many hanging chads. The fit was odd, loose and spongy, and even when you found the correct piece you weren’t always sure whether or not it was placed properly. The image reproduction was good, but the finish was overly shiny – and with such a dark image it was a giant pain in the butt to work with under indoor lighting. Overall, if you can’t already tell I was unhappy with the quality of this puzzle.

When I bought this puzzle I think I was taken in by the quality of the box if you can believe it. The box is sturdy and well made and feels premium – almost like a Pomegranate box. I saw a cute Halloween image, felt the gorgeous box, and stopped paying attention. I should have kept looking and reading to be sure it was worth it. I know better now, and hopefully won’t make that mistake again.

Halloween being my favorite holiday, it was a little bit upsetting to be let down by this puzzle, but in the end I got what enjoyment I could out of it, and was proud of myself for completing the entire image. Yay me!

I sorted by color, and worked the puzzle in the same way; started with purple, then green, dark orange, light orange, and white. Once that was done what was left were about 200-300 pieces that were black or this ugly greenish-gray color…

The choice to have the cats, bats, and shelves all the same color just about had me pulling out my very gray hair! In this small section you can see how difficult that color choice made the assembly. Yikes. Double yikes. It ramped up the difficulty level of the puzzle by quite a few points in my opinion. Loved the rest of the palette, but I sure did wish at the very least that the kitties had been some other color.

I very much wanted to like this puzzle because the image makes me smile and I love Halloween, but the poor quality and difficulty level had me almost giving up on it. Even with the less than stellar quality it was enjoyable in the beginning working with the brighter colors, and at the very end I was proud of myself that I kept going when it got rough.

If you see this puzzle out there in the world be warned – it’s harder than it looks, and it’s one of those fly-by-night companies that don’t even have a brand name so they didn’t seem to put much into producing a well made puzzle.

Wasgij In Progress

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

A Bright Christmas Night by Graham Thompson – Jumbo (Wasgij)was – 1000 pieces

There’s a Wasgij puzzle on the board, which means NO SPOILERS. So although I can’t show you how the puzzle is going, I am sharing with you the image shown on the box, which is not the image being assembled. For this puzzle you have to assemble the image as it would look from the point of view of the owl that’s flying just above the tree in the yard.

It seems ridiculous to say on October 25th, but this is my last larger Christmas puzzle of the season. With the advent calendars taking up the first 24 days of December and all the puzzles currently in the queue, this last one that I’m currently assembling will be posted on Dec. 30th. I will be putting together the advent puzzles daily in December, but they are each only 56 pieces and nowhere near as challenging (hopefully) as this one is.

There are still wintery puzzle images I have here at the house that aren’t holiday specific, so there are still chilly puzzles to do this winter. Thankfully though, this is my last big Christmas puzzle this year!