Celebrity Chief Chef!

On October 10, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

I haven’t done a Wasgij for a while, and I forgot how much fun they are. As usual I am not showing the full image, no spoilers allowed! I only show the person (or thing) shown on the box as a hint. I don’t think the hints are overly helpful though, at least they aren’t for me.

Jumbo puzzles are excellent quality, although I do realize that sometimes there can be a problem with pieces fitting where they don’t belong. It usually isn’t a problem with the Wasgij puzzles though, the images are usually full of bright colors and busyness. There are so many Wasgij puzzles here to do, but sometimes I forget about the giant stack of them in my closet.

For the most part the Wasgij images aren’t hard to figure out, you normally know what the people are wearing and can start with that. Also, as you’re sorting you can find blocks of color or something with which to begin. It’s just a matter of figuring out what the perspective is, or what you’re supposed to be deciphering. They’re always entertaining!

Beaches of South Walton

On October 5, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Interesting puzzle from a company I’ve never heard of before. I couldn’t find anything online about them either; they may not be in business still, I’m not sure.

Unfortunately it had a terribly mushy fit, but otherwise I found the quality of the pieces quite good. They were thick and had a good hand feel. The image seemed a little blurry, but I believe that was the nature of the artwork.

South Walton 1

Apparently Bow Wow Meow is a pet supply store in South Walton; I just loved the name, very cute. 😉

South Walton 2

The map portion of this puzzle was one of the most fun sections to assemble, although surprisingly I found the green section quite entertaining as well.

Overall the mushy fit was disappointing and did not make for a great first impression. I had high hopes for this puzzle because the chipboard used was very good, but the fit of the pieces made for a sometimes frustrating assembly.

The Sewing Shed

On September 26, 2019September 26, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

This puzzle had my mom all over it, every piece and every section reminded me of her. It was a sweet, somewhat sad assembly, but in the end it makes me smile. It’s a beautiful image, a great quality puzzle, and brings up many lovely memories for me. 💗

Usually Ravensburger puzzles don’t have such prominent piece shapes in the finished image, but otherwise I can’t fault the quality. The pieces have that fantastic hand feel, and the fit was wonderful. As I’m going along with the assembly, and especially once I’m finished there is a lot of running my hands over the puzzle – no other puzzle feels like a Ravensburger! And for this one I found myself doing even more of that than usual. It feels so nice I can’t seem to stop myself.

One of the first things I noticed when sorting pieces was this little heart…

The Sewing Shed 2

I didn’t call her “mum”, but she certainly was my bestie! How sweet is that? I love it!

This assembly was so nice that I kept telling myself to slow down because I didn’t want it to be over too quickly. I couldn’t help it for the most part though, I have almost no self control. 😉

The Sewing Shed 1

This sewing box looks almost exactly like one my mom set up for me when she taught me cross-stitch. I loved cross-stitching, and carried my sewing box everywhere until the handle broke off! I’ve traded my needle and floss for jigsaw puzzles (they’re much easier on my poor aging eyes), but I have wonderful memories of crafting with mom.

Great puzzle, beautiful image, entertaining assembly, and mom – what a fantastic combination!

The Periodic Table of the Elements

On September 23, 2019September 23, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles5 Comments

I wish I had the right words to express how much I absolutely adored assembling this puzzle – it was so entertaining! It’s an older Eurographics puzzle, so it’s a random cut and it was absolutely the best puzzle I’ve assembled in a while!

Most of the newer Eurographics puzzles I’ve come across are not only grid cut, they only have the one piece shape. Ugh. Boring, boring, boring! This randomly cut puzzle was tricky in some places, but for the most part it was pretty easy – but not boring in the least. Can you tell I loved it?

I never took chemistry, so honestly this is the very first time I had a good look at the Periodic Table, and some of the element’s names were a surprise to me; Americum, Californium, Einsteinium, Europium, Neptunium…

Periodic Table 1

I was very interested in reading the names of all the elements, and it made me curious as to how or why things were named what they were. There was also a table at the bottom showing all the elements, the year they were discovered, and who discovered them. I found it so interesting!

Periodic Table 2

This puzzle was full of things I didn’t know. I’d never heard of Dimitri Mendeleev and had no idea he was the “inventor” of the periodic table. There’s an element named after him too – Mendelevium. I’m sure this isn’t new to many people, but it is to me; I found this entire puzzle not only entertaining, but fascinating as well.

This was one of the puzzles I found in the trunk of mom’s car, and it makes me think of her – she would have loved putting this one together. She knew the kind of puzzles I enjoy, and I’m certain she got this from the thrift store with me in mind. I wish she were here so that I could show her the finished image, tell her thank you, and tell her how much I miss puzzling with her. 💖

Apple Annie’s Carnival Time

On September 20, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Panoramic puzzles make me very happy these days, and I’ve got two more in the to do pile that I’m looking forward to. It’s great being able to reach the top of the puzzle so easily, and they fit my puzzle board very well. This was a lovely image with very good quality, and I had a great time with the assembly.

I noticed that Art Poulin is exacting with words and buildings but draws people and animals a little fuzzy and indistinct…

Apple Annie's 1

You can see the derrick, wagon, and sign are sharp and clear and the sheep next to it is quite blotchy, for lack of a better word. All the animals and people were indistinct and fuzzy and all the buildings and signs were not. I never noticed it in his artwork before. I wonder why, I’ve done quite a few of his puzzles. Perhaps I just wasn’t paying close enough attention.

Apple Annie's 2

Buffalo puzzles for sale. Hmmm. This is a MasterPieces puzzle. Very odd. It made me laugh though, I wonder if the artwork was originally done for Buffalo and then later sold to MasterPieces.

Apple Annie's 3

Also, what in the world is this? This is a panoramic puzzle that is 3 feet long, those are the measurements for a “standard” size puzzle, somebody wasn’t doing their job. I guess they think we don’t pay much attention to things – but they are wrong.

All the weirdness aside, this was a good quality puzzle that I very much enjoyed. The Americana theme is very prevalent in jigsaw puzzles and sometimes I get bored with it, but this one wasn’t boring to me at all, perhaps because of the panoramic aspect. I was completely entertained and that’s what it’s all about. 🙂