The Fire Station

On February 27, 2020February 27, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

It’s been years since I’ve assembled a puzzle with an image by Jan van Haasteren, and I remember why – I don’t really like such crowded, busy images. But this one being a gift, and only 550 pieces made it a little easier for me to handle. Still, it was no walk in the park!

Fire Station 1

There are several things that you’re supposed to be able to find in every JVH image, but I confess that I was only able to find the shark fin and the hands. Even though I scoured the image from top to bottom and side to side I wasn’t able to find the self-portrait of the artist, or Sinterklaas (Santa) – they were nowhere to be found! Ah well, it does make you pay attention to the artwork and gives you an appreciation for the hours and hours of work that must have gone into it. They’re unbelievably detailed!

Fire Station 2

My youngest son came in the room as I was finishing the puzzle, and pointed to this section, he said “I don’t think you could do that in real life, you would hurt your back!” I completely agree. It’s one of those things that when you’re younger looks like it would be fun, but now, at my age, it looks like it would be terrifying!

Fire Station 3

These two men in the firetruck have the right idea if you ask me, there’s no way I’d want to be a firefighter! They’re fantastic, brave people and I have all the respect in the world for them, it just isn’t a job that I could do. I can’t image the heat they have to deal with in fighting fires, it would be way too intense for me! I’d be happy to be able to drive them around though, as long as I could stay in the truck once we got there. 😉

This was a fun assembly, and I was pretty proud to get it finished – it was quite difficult!

Helpful Garden Paws In Progress

On January 9, 2020January 9, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Helpful IP — Helpful Garden Paws by Jenny Newland – 550 pieces

After I finished Art City yesterday my brain and my body were both exhausted. I spent the rest of the day in bed taking many naps, and was worried that I’d have no in progress update to share with you all today. 😥

Unfortunately an upsetting thing happened in the evening, and even though I was still exhausted (I’m certain adding antibiotics to my pain regimen is part of the problem) I couldn’t turn my brain off enough to allow me to sleep.

As usual, when I can’t sleep it’s off to the puzzle room, and I was able to sort the entire thing and actually got quite a bit of it assembled too. Every cloud has a silver lining, yadda yadda yadda.

There were plenty of small sections that were easy to separate during the sorting, but other than the white kitten I didn’t try to sort any of the animals. There are many, many pieces of fur left on the trays, but I hope as I’m putting this one together that the different animals will become a little more familiar and it won’t be too much of a chore to get them assembled.

This puzzle was a Christmas gift, and I was going to apologize for how long it took me to get to assembling it – but it’s only been just over two weeks! How in the world does it feel like Christmas was forever ago? My life is whizzing past me at breakneck speeds; perhaps that’s just what happens when you’re over the hill, you’re on the down slope and speeds pick up. Yikes.

To that end, there are eight more puzzles I received as gifts, and to the two lovely ladies who gave them to me, it might be a while until they’re all assembled. The two Christmas themed puzzles may have to wait until December, but the remaining six will find their way onto my table in due course. I promise that I love them all and will absolutely be assembling them, but it may take a while.

My life complicates things all the time, and it gets in the way of my puzzling. Rude. 🤨

It’s All Good

On January 7, 2020January 7, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles12 Comments

Another sleepless night, another puzzle finished more quickly than it should be. I’m not complaining mind you, I relish the time at night when the house is silent and I’m left with my puzzle and my only thoughts are which piece fits here, and where does this pattern go. No one needs anything from me in the middle of the night, and I’m free to puzzle with no interruptions.

This is the second puzzle from a trio of images by Thaneeya McArdle that I’ve assembled. The first one was so enjoyable that I immediately had to return to the store and pick up the other two. It’s been a while since the first one was put together, but I distinctly remember that it was missing a piece. Guess what? Yep, you guessed it, another missing piece!

All Good 1

I’m not one who immediately assumes it’s the company’s fault, in fact I’m certain most missing pieces are the fault of the consumer. This is very odd though, it seems unlikely that I would lose a piece from each of these puzzles (although it very well may be what happened). Perhaps it’s purposeful; do you really believe “It’s All Good”, even with a missing piece? Can you remain calm and happy with an incomplete puzzle? 😉

That may be a bit too existential for Ceaco though, and most likely the missing piece stowed away on my sleeve to another room. It’s most likely hiding under a pillow, near the baseboards, or in the pantry, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Other than the small problem of an errant puzzle piece possibly hiding somewhere in my house, the quality was pretty good for a Ceaco; there were the odd pieces still connected, a slightly bent piece or two, and a LOT of puzzle dust. But overall it was good quality and the assembly was entirely captivating. The image is so bright and interesting that it totally sucked me in and had me completely engrossed. Isn’t that what a good puzzle is supposed to do?

I’d better finish the third puzzle soon, any bets on whether or not there’ll be a piece missing? I’m going to say the third time will be the charm and it will be complete – here’s hoping!

Review: Pets Rock

On October 13, 2019October 13, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments

Pets Rock is actually the second puzzle in this series of three that I’ve done, and they all have the same name. They’re highly entertaining (at least they are for me), and go together quite quickly. I very much enjoyed this assembly, and it was the perfect puzzle to help get my puzzle mojo back after more than a week of no puzzling.

Ceaco isn’t a favorite brand; I find that sometimes the quality is quite lacking and sometimes it’s very good – there’s no consistency. The pieces of this puzzle were on the thin side, and had a tendency to bend. They fit together well though, there were a variety of shapes, and the image reproduction was very good. There was a lot of puzzle dust, so much so that I had to vacuum the puzzle board when I was done. A bit annoying, but for the most part didn’t detract from the assembly. Ceaco has a large and interesting catalog of images though, and some are too cute or gorgeous for me to pass up.

I didn’t enjoy the image as much as the first Pets Rock that I assembled; most likely because I’m now a little old lady, and I prefer the personalities that I know and relate to. Elvis, David Bowie, and Michael Jackson are more my style than Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, and Katy Perry. Personalities aside, having six sections that are easily sorted and assembled is easy and entertaining. I started with kitty Katy Perry – that blue hair stood out and was fun to put together.

Even though the pieces weren’t the thickest and tended to bend a little, the assembly was quick, fun, and extremely entertaining. If the image is to your liking, it’s definitely recommended. I don’t think a puzzle has to be premium quality in order for you to enjoy it – and I absolutely had a great time putting this one together. 🙂

Details:

Title: Pets Rock
Artist: Takkoda
Brand: Ceaco
Piece count: 550 pieces
Size: Approx. 24 x 18 in. (61 x 46 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Fair, thin and easily bent
Cutting: Good
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Large amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Good, recommended

Massive Munchies

On October 7, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

I had a good time with this one, I usually don’t see collages by Ceaco. This was another puzzle that my daughter suggested I buy when we were puzzle shopping together. She seems to know better than I do what I’ll enjoy assembling; perhaps I’ll have to take her with me on my puzzle quests more often. 😉

Fair quality, but pieces were on the thin side. The image was fun enough though that I wasn’t deterred.

Massive Munchies 1

With all the chocolatey and sugary snacks and cereals in this image (and in the stores), this was one of my favorites when I was younger. Mom used to shop at a store we kids called the “used bread store”, they had quite a lot of Hostess products and she used to buy a lot of these pies. I loved them warmed up. I haven’t seen these in any stores in quite some time, but this one made me feel a bit nostalgic.