If My People…

On May 21, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

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

On May 14, 2020May 14, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

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

On May 9, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling8 Comments

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. 😍

Review: Fresh Picked Flowers

On May 8, 2020May 8, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews16 Comments

The beautiful, bright colors of this image made this puzzle so much fun; and the quality was so much better than the previous Sunsout puzzle that I assembled. Don’t you love it when a puzzle is so much better than you anticipated? I do!

The last Sunsout puzzle I assembled – Rainy Day Sketch – was purchased at the same time, from the same store. The difference in quality between the two was striking – and that is NOT a good thing. When you don’t know for sure what you’re going to get, it makes it difficult to trust that you’re getting your money’s worth. I’m not a fan of having to guess or gamble when it comes to the quality of the puzzles I buy.

Fresh Picked Flowers had very good quality, in fact I was surprised at how good. Having had a much different experience with the previous Sunsout puzzle, I was dreading this one a little bit thinking it would be equally as disappointing. Thank goodness that wasn’t the case! This puzzle had thick pieces with a very good variety of shapes, and a truly wonderful fit. As you can see the reproduction is bright and crisp, with clean lines – it was a joy to work with.

Fresh Picked Flowers 1

For some reason the dullest colored thing in the puzzle, this brown bird (I have no idea what species this is), was one of the things I really enjoyed putting together. For some reason I can’t really express this bird was lovely to assemble.

Fresh Picked Flowers 2

This bowl of cherries is bright and fun, and was really challenging too. When I look at it the first thing that comes to mind is Erma Bombeck; she was a humorist and columnist that I used to really enjoy reading when I was younger. I’m sure if I had one of her books here now it would still make me laugh. She had a book entitled “If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits?” and it seems to pop into my brain whenever I see this.

The artwork by Jane Maday made for an excellent puzzling experience, and the quality of the puzzle itself was wonderful to work with. If only all Sunsout puzzles could be this good! If by some miracle you find this puzzle out there, it’s definitely recommended. I loved it. 💖

Details:

Title: Fresh Picked Flowers
Artist: Jane Maday
Brand: Sunsout
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Average
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Cottages – Part 4

On May 5, 2020May 4, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Cottages 4-1 — Cottages (4) by Kim Leo – Cra-Z-Art – 125/500 pieces

And now we’ve come to the close of our trip down cottage lane, and wasn’t it fun? I hope you readers have enjoyed it as much as I have. I think each little piece of artwork deserves to be appreciated, and have had a great time showing them all!

For those of you wondering, the quality of these puzzles is pretty good. The pieces are on the thinner side, but they’re sturdy and have a very nice variety of shapes. They fit together well, if perhaps slightly loosely, and as you can see the image reproduction is lovely with bright colors, crisp lines, and no fuzziness or blurry areas. The added colored backing seems to make it so that the die doesn’t cut all the way through on every piece, and each little puzzle had several pieces still attached. It wasn’t too terrible though, and just a little tug was all that was needed to separate them.

Cottages 4-2

I’m calling this one Heart House, because there are hearts everywhere! From the weather vane at the top of the house to paving stones in the walkway – hearts, hearts, and more hearts! Some of them are easy to miss, did you see the heart on the trim boards at the top of the house? So sweet! How about the X’s and O’s hanging off the porch roof? Hugs and kisses for everyone. This is in my top 3 of the entire set, love it! 😍

Cottages 4-3

Here’s another one with an autumn look to it, the Butternut Bakery. I love the little seating area near the top of the building, and the birdhouse too. Did you notice the weather vane? It’s a rolling pin! The small details like that are adorable; I really do love the work of this artist – it makes me smile. 🙂

Cottages 4-4

And lastly is the Sea Breeze Inn, doesn’t this look like a wonderful place for a weekend at the beach? I’m not a fan of sand, so I don’t think I’d be doing much at the beach, but it looks like a lovely place to sit on the porch and relax. All they need is a table there so I could work on a puzzle or two – then it would be perfect! 🧩

Did you notice? This is the only cottage without a cat!