Baskets was so much more difficult than I thought, still it was a fun challenge to assemble. I wouldn’t say that it’s “pretty”, but it’s an interesting image and I enjoyed putting it together.
The quality was quite good, and the hand feel of the pieces was very nice. Overall I find these smaller Milton Bradley puzzles to be very good quality with beautiful image reproduction, and they have so many interesting and different images like this one.
This is the first basket that I assembled, the pink and black pattern was easy to pick out, but none of these baskets was easy to put together. With so many areas of shading, and different patterns and shades of color, it was much more difficult than it looks.
Difficult or not though, it kept me fully engrossed and entertained; I was pretty proud of myself when I finished too!
Fishing, Sailing and Catching Frogs by Bonnie White – MasterPieces – 500 pieces
I really enjoy an Americana image now and then, and this was no different. I’ve done several puzzles with Bonnie White’s artwork, and I find them to be charming, detailed, and completely entertaining.
The pieces looked pretty much all green as I got started, and it looked as though it was going to be difficult. But as I went along and got more used to the image and what went where, the pieces made more sense. I could see that this green went with the apple tree, and that green went with the fields, etc.
I truly enjoyed this image, and it was quicker to go together than I thought it would be. Even with the hundreds, perhaps thousands of puzzles I’ve put together – I am still wrong a LOT of the time about whether or not I will enjoy a certain image and how difficult it will be. 🤷♀️
Fishing….
I thought I’d show you what the title means. Fishing in the stream….
Sailing….
The boys are sailing their boats in the creek…
Catching frogs!
And catching frogs. I love this little guy! I was quite a tomboy when I was younger and I don’t want to brag, but I caught quite a few frogs in my day. 🐸
This is where I would usually show you a picture of the completed puzzle, but as you can see I’ve taken a picture of the box instead. Why? Because this puzzle had terrible quality, and once I’d put together six pieces of the edge that was all I needed. Life is too short to waste on crappy puzzles.
The entire time I was sorting my brain was telling me to really think about whether or not this was a puzzle I wanted to assemble. There were MANY pieces still attached, not because they just didn’t get broken up, but because they weren’t cut all the way through – not even close to all the way through. There were groups of 2, 3, and even 4 pieces still together, and to separate them without damaging them would have required a sharp craft knife and lots of time. 😐
The thinness of the pieces was a concern as well, I don’t ever remember a Eurographics puzzle having such thin, bendable pieces before – and there have been many a puzzle from this brand on my table through the years. If I hadn’t purchased it new myself, the quality would lead me to believe this was a dollar store puzzle.
Once I started putting the edge together I knew this puzzle was going to be horrid to assemble and that it just wasn’t worth it. The looseness of the fit was crazy, there was way too much play in the pieces.
This is the pieces pushed together tightly.
This is how much play there is within the fit. You couldn’t lift two assembled pieces.
I’m not sure exactly when Eurographics quality went downhill, but the last few puzzles of theirs that I’ve assembled have been quite disappointing. They used to have nice, thick pieces with a random cut that made for an interesting assembly. The newer puzzles I’ve assembled have had thinner pieces with only one piece shape. This puzzle just put them on my naughty list, because I absolutely cannot recommend this brand anymore.
It may seem odd to review a puzzle I haven’t completely assembled, but there were so many quality issues that I felt a responsibility to let my readers know – a review seemed to be the best way to do that. It isn’t coming as a shock, I’ve expressed disappointment with the last few Eurographics puzzles that I’ve assembled; but this was by far the worst quality puzzle of theirs I’ve ever seen.
Once I decided to review this puzzle I gathered the pieces for the two yellow butterflies and put them together to be sure about the quality of the whole puzzle. Absolutely awful. Perhaps my puzzle was just one from the very end of the run when the die is dullest, but when you put this disappointing quality together with the problems of the previous ones it all adds up to a brand that has major problems, in my opinion.
Please remember, all reviews are only one person’s opinion. I do my best to be objective, but in the end this review is only about my puzzle and my experience; take it with a grain of salt. Far be it from me to tell you what to buy or not to buy; but for myself I know there won’t be any more Eurographics puzzles in my shopping cart anytime soon. It’s such a shame too, they used to be such nice puzzles. 😥
On what was most likely my last puzzle shopping trip for quite some time I got myself a few collages. Collage puzzles are my happy place, and what I need right now are puzzles that make me happy. 💖
This collage of stamps is this first one I’ve picked to assemble, and it looks like it’s going to be great fun! Once the edge was assembled the first stamp I saw that I wanted to put together was Rosie the Riveter. She makes me smile, and also makes me think of the times we’re living in right now.
When called upon, the greatest generation did what needed to be done; men enlisted, women went to work in the factories, they rationed food, they limited their travel to save on resources for our troops, and much more. With Covid-19 running rampant across the globe, we all have to pitch in where we can – even if all we can do is stay at home when we are asked to, to help stop the spread of the virus.
As a disabled person who also has underlying conditions that make me more vulnerable, all I am really able do to pitch in and help out my community is to stay at home. All that’s being asked of me right now is to plant myself inside and stay there; I can absolutely do that without complaint.
In this unique situation in the world today everyone can help out in some way, even if the only way for us to help is to do nothing (or do puzzles) in our homes.
This was a gorgeous puzzle that sadly was over too soon. The picture doesn’t do it justice, the colors are spectacular! Great quality thrift store puzzle that makes my heart and eyes very happy.
This was another puzzle where I wasn’t aware of the artist until I was finished and writing up the post – it’s Ciro Marchetti. He’s another digital artist whose work I greatly admire, and this one definitely didn’t disappoint. The colors are AMAZING!
Buffalo has to be given some props here for their exceptional image reproduction in addition to the great quality of the pieces and the fit. This puzzle is an example of one of the reasons why I love thrift store shopping. You can find a puzzle like this, of fantastic quality, for a small fraction of what you would pay retail. Yes, sometimes you run the risk of missing pieces, but it’s worth it in my book. Even a puzzle with missing pieces can be entertaining to assemble – at least it is for me. As my friend Nicola says, “The job is to put all the pieces together until there aren’t any more”. You can complete that task even with an incomplete puzzle. 🙂
The colors of the flowers and stained glass were just beautiful. I did not manipulate this image other than to crop it, these are the true colors!
The red and yellow birds were the first ones I put together, one bird led to another and before I knew it the puzzle was complete. I think this image would be excellent in a larger piece count, it was just too much fun to be over so quickly.
The colors, the puzzle, the quality – just fabulous!
My Jigsaw Journal 