Quilts

Quilts
Quilts – Cobble Hill – 500 pieces

Quilt puzzles make me happy, and this image was different than the norm. A stack of folded quilts doesn’t sound like an interesting image, but put them in the right order and it’s a beautiful little piece of artwork.

Cobble Hill puzzles are very good quality, and although I enjoy all of the different sizes and piece counts, their puzzles with large pieces are highly entertaining for me. Thankfully they are not a company that has only one piece shape, and are one of the few companies that use a truly random cut that makes an otherwise simplistic image more engaging.

I loved this puzzle from the first piece to the last, and would definitely recommend it. 💜

 

Archie Covers

Archie Covers
Archie Covers – Cobble Hill – 500 pieces

This puzzle was so much fun! The puzzle I put together just before this one was very muted with lots of shades of brown, and the bright colors and larger pieces made this assembly so much more entertaining.

Great Cobble Hill quality; thick, larger pieces that fit together very well with a nice variety of shapes. Excellent image reproduction!

Archie Covers 1

Of course this is my favorite panel, girls rule! I will say, however, that the teeny waist on the woman in yellow is unrealistically small. Real women who don’t wear corsets and have all their ribs do not look like that and should never be expected to look like that. I know it’s just a comic book, but still…

Archie Covers 2

I think this must be how every generation feels about the next generation’s music. Of course you always think that the music of your youth is superior, I know I do. My parents were a bit different though; they did think their music was better, but they also just loved music in general and appreciated my generation’s music as well. Mom loved Boy George! She thought his voice was beautiful and loved when his songs would come on the radio. Dad was a drummer when he was young, and he loved a good beat – no matter what the lyrics said. 🥁

Isn’t it funny how an image can trigger all sorts of different memories?

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?! 😇

Road Trip

Road Trip
Road Trip – Re-marks – 500 pieces

This one was waaay too much fun! You all know how much I enjoy a collage, so it won’t be a surprise to anyone that I had the best time with this one. Love, love, loved it❣

Re-marks isn’t a premium brand in my mind, but I’m not a complete puzzle snob and do not ever hesitate to buy one of their puzzles. They have such a great variety of collages in their catalog that I just can’t help myself. It’s a sickness. One I don’t apologize for. Ever.

The pieces are a good thickness, they fit together well, there’s a really nice variety of pieces and a random cut that makes the assembly interesting. Normally the image reproduction is very good, but I’ve had the odd problem – it doesn’t stop me from continuing to buy their puzzles though. There is not ONE puzzle company, premium or not, that I haven’t had at least one problem with. Manufacturing is never perfect and I don’t expect perfection from anyone.

Road Trip 1

Who remembers when the Disneyland sign used to look like this? I do. I’m old. Any of my fellow oldsters remember The Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights? The whole family sat down to watch tv together; no cussing, no sex scenes, no nip slips or wardrobe malfunctions, no kids staring at their phones (which would have been REALLY weird, our phones only made phone calls and almost all phones were connected to the wall), just good family entertainment. Do I sound like an old person? I feel like one.

Road Trip 2

I just love this one, I have no idea which state this represents but I just love the look of it. Cowgirl power!

I’m still feeling like death on toast, but thankfully I have a couple weeks worth of puzzles in the queue to keep on posting till I make it back FULLY to the puzzle table. I hope you all are staying safe and healthy, and having a great time with your puzzles. 💗🧩

Quilts In Progress

Quilts IP
Quilts – Cobble Hill – 500 pieces

Yesterday was an awful day, and I didn’t even get started on this one until last night. I made a bit of progress before I ended up going to bed though, it’s looking pretty good!

Quilts are a funny thing, there are many fabrics that I wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole, but you put them into a quilt and they look perfectly normal. Great even! Does anyone else feel that way?

As I was laying out the pieces and looking at some of the patterns and colors, I thought to myself “That is the ugliest fabric!”, and “Ugh, that is a hideous color.”. But you put them together with other fabrics and they seem to make sense, and even become part of a beautiful pattern.

Oh well, I suppose beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder. 😍