Review: Pasture’s Edge (Moo)

On May 31, 2018May 31, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviewsLeave a comment

Pasture’s Edge (Moo) by Linda Elliott – Ceaco – 550 pieces

This image grabbed me right away when I saw it, and it makes me laugh to look at it. The beautiful flowers everywhere and the angry looking cows are quite opposite and I find it hilarious.

The quality was good with very nice image reproduction and a great fit. The pieces are on the thin side, but sturdy enough with a good variety of shapes. Ceaco isn’t a brand I normally buy new, but I really loved this image and couldn’t pass it up.

It was more difficult than I bargained for, but not too much so. I started with the black and white of the cows, and then assembled each of the different colors of flowers. Once all the flowers were complete all that was left was the grass, and it was relatively easy to fill in. The different textures of the grass in the foreground and background helped, as did the different piece shapes.

This was a fun puzzle, I love the image and it was challenging in a good way. If the image is something you like, I would definitely recommend it. It isn’t a premium quality puzzle, but I found it worth my time, and it still makes me smile to look at the picture. Moo! 🐮

Details:

Title: Pasture’s Edge (Moo)
Artist: Linda Elliott
Brand: Ceaco
Piece count: 550 pieces
Size: Approx. 24 x 18 in. (61 x 46 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Good
Cutting: Good
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Good, recommended

Puzzles in Progress

On May 22, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling17 Comments

First Trip to the Beauty Shop by Norman Rockwell

I’ve got two puzzles in progress at the moment, I can’t seem to get my brain to settle on just one. This first one mom found unopened at the thrift store for 39 cents. The box is extremely small for a 500 piece puzzle which means the pieces are quite small as well. Once we opened the box, we saw that the quality was less than optimal – very thin pieces with an unbelievably loose fit. Ugh. I started assembling it at least 2 times before and put it away because I wasn’t in the right mood to deal with the poor quality.

I’m not sure why I’m in the mood for it now, but at the moment I really want to see this puzzle assembled; partly because nowhere on the box is a picture of the entire puzzle image – frustrating! And if I’ve got 2 puzzles going I can take a break from the horrible quality of this one and work on one that isn’t as annoying

The image on this puzzle is much brighter and easier to work with, and even though it’s a Ceaco puzzle the quality is many times better than the Norman Rockwell puzzle (which is made by Kappa Books Publisher). The fit is much nicer and the pieces aren’t nearly as thin.

So I’ve got 2 puzzles going, but for some reason neither of them is my newest wooden puzzle that was my anniversary present. I’m not sure when my weird old lady brain will be in the right mood for that one. I think it’s partly because I’m missing working on puzzles with mom; I haven’t been able to have any puzzle/visit days with her for the last 3 weeks. Every puzzle is much more fun when mom and I work together, and a new wooden puzzle is something we both love to assemble.

We won’t be able to have our visit day this week either, so perhaps I’m just too bummed about that to start on the new Liberty puzzle. We’ll have to wait and see I suppose.

Humility

On May 6, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles12 Comments

IMG_E4514 — Humility by Richard Welker – Ceaco – 550 pieces

So I have to eat my words, this puzzle is from Ceaco and not only was it really good quality, the image is amazing and was fantastic to assemble.

Ceaco isn’t a favorite brand, but they do have an interesting and varied catalog and very reasonable prices. We usually only buy them from the thrift stores and only when it’s an image that really strikes us. I actually bought this one new! Can you believe it? I loved the image so much and was on the hunt for puzzles with smaller piece counts so I decided to give it a try. The quality was quite good and we loved putting it together. So here I am, chomping on my puzzle snobby words. 🍴

The pieces were thicker than many other Ceaco puzzles I’ve assembled, and the fit was excellent. You can barely see the piece shapes in the image above, and that’s only because of the light color in the bottom corner. When it was photographed and ready to be disassembled we were able to lift the entire puzzle and nothing came apart!

The image is amazing and I’ve already found and purchased another one by the same artist; I’m ready to assemble it with mom when she gets home. Get your little old lady butt home soon momma, we’ve got puzzles to do!

Americana

On May 5, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I don’t have a lot to say about this puzzle to be honest. It’s not the most exciting image (only my opinion), and wasn’t the most fun to assemble. Sometimes they’re just not your cup of tea, and that’s ok.

I’ve never heard of or seen a Bob’s Your Uncle puzzle before; the quality was good, but nothing overly impressive for me. The pieces were a good thickness and the fit was fair. Photographic puzzles aren’t our usual choice, so the image reproduction is hard to judge – a puzzle that uses an older photo won’t be as crisp and clear as a newer photo taken with more sophisticated equipment. This image seems like an older photograph, so a little fuzziness is to be expected.

They can’t all be exactly what you’re looking for, but no matter – I got to work on this puzzle with mom and that’s the best part. ❤

Loose Change

On March 19, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles1 Comment

This was one of the more challenging puzzles mom and I have done lately. It’s also the first 550 piece White Mountain that I’ve assembled. Looking at it now, I’m completely surprised at myself for suggesting that we do it – it was really difficult!

Luckily the border was relatively easy to assemble, although it took about an hour to assemble it wasn’t that bad. If it hadn’t been for the border we probably wouldn’t have kept going; but we’d already invested some time and didn’t want to lose all that work.

The majority of the coins were pennies, but there were some gold and silver coins mixed in there that helped get things going. First we separated out the bright gold coins, put them together and placed them approximately where they belonged; we did the same with the silver coins. Then we had many places to work off of, it made it a little less daunting with all those pennies!

The quality was really good, sometimes White Mountain quality can be hit or miss but this puzzle was very good. All pieces were separated, with no fuzziness or hanging bits of paper. The pieces were thick and fit together well, although there were a few pieces with some image lift. Overall it was very good quality. I’m looking forward to finding another 550 piece White Mountain puzzle to compare the quality.

I’m proud of us for sticking with it and getting it done, but it’s definitely not an image I would pick for myself. It sure was fun putting in those last few pieces though!