Dog Days In Progress

On April 22, 2022April 22, 2022 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

The Writer’s Dogs – Buffalo (Dog Days) – 750 pieces

The majority of this adorable puzzle was done yesterday. I’ve figured out a schedule for working on my puzzles in peace (sort of). When hubby is taking a nap that’s when I sneak off to the puzzle room for some precious alone time; if he’s up and working – it’s Netflix time! After he goes to bed for the evening I stay up and work on posts or the blog in general; and if there’s time left over I can even get some extra puzzle time in. 😎

I seem to be quite sensitive to sounds these days and working on my puzzles while anyone is around talking, breathing, moving, or in any way making noise frazzles my nerves. We share the room, but it doesn’t seem as though we’re able to both be in here at the same time. Tag team, that’s the way to go.

The only things left to do now are the three pups. Lots of fur! It will be the most challenging part, but I’m not dreading it at all, I’m actually looking forward to it. And honestly even I’m shocked by that last sentence! Usually lots of animals with fur can be tedious, boring, difficult, and/or frustrating. That may be what happens next, but I’m confident I’ll be enjoying myself anyway.

I’m absolutely LOVING this puzzle. Easy to sort but not too easy to assemble, great quality, a wonderful image for puzzling – it’s just entertaining in every way. What more could a member of the puzzle posse ask for?

The Retrievers

On March 21, 2020March 21, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

My goodness was this puzzle adorably entertaining! The Retriever family’s wall of family photos made for such a fun and slightly challenging puzzle. If you find this one out there I would definitely recommend it; not only did I have a great time, but it was an excellent quality puzzle too.

I loved the size and fit of the 750 piece Buffalo, there have only been a couple other Buffalo puzzles of this piece count that I’ve assembled before. I enjoyed it very much and found the quality to be excellent. The chipboard was a good thickness, the fit and image reproduction were both exceptional. It makes me want to find some more 750 piece Buffalo puzzles with great images. 🙂

The Retrievers 1

How adorable is this face? No wonder Golden Retrievers are such a popular breed! All the different frames made sorting a bit easier, and once they were put together there weren’t as many pieces that were just the background wallpaper.

The Retrievers 2

The cuteness of this entire image made it really entertaining for me. This was a moderately easy assembly, but it did have enough difficulty to make it fun. Barking fun!

It gets four paws way up and is highly recommended. 🐾🐾

Viva Las Vegas!

On January 30, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

This puzzle was more fun than I expected – don’t you love it when that happens? I do! I can’t count the number of times that I’ve been wrong about a puzzle, thinking it will be easy and it ends up being hard, or vice versa – or thinking it will be fun and it ends up being a drag, or vice versa. It seems I’m almost never right on the money about how enjoyable or difficult a puzzle will be, but it’s still fun being happily surprised. 🙂

I love the colors, which gave it just the right amount of difficulty, I think it made it a bit easier than it would have been without the extra color.

Las Vegas 1

I was surprised at the detail in this puzzle. This section is only about 20 pieces out of this 750 piece puzzle, and you can see how detailed the image is. There’s even a McDonald’s there on the strip!

This was a thrift store purchase, and even with a missing piece and several chewed pieces I still had a great time with it. You can see above that somebody’s pet (or child) enjoyed a chew on several of the pieces. And the image is so detailed that you can’t even really see the missing piece, that’s a bonus too in my book. 😉

Even with chewed up and missing pieces I still enjoyed this assembly much more than I thought I would, and it was a well made and great quality puzzle. Everything doesn’t have to perfect for me to enjoy a puzzle, this is a perfect example of that.

Review: Circles Strokes

On January 11, 2020January 11, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews8 Comments

I do so love blocks of color. 💖 This puzzle was a lovely respite from holiday images (it was finished on December 22), and even though it was a bit difficult I enjoyed the unique image and the gold foil accents. It’s such different and interesting artwork, and you know how much I love things that aren’t the norm.

As I do many times, after purchasing this puzzle I opened the box to look at the pieces; then, as I do, put it away because it looked like it would be pretty difficult. Several times the box came out when it was time to choose the next puzzle, and it went back in the pile every time. Luckily, this time I jumped at the chance to do a puzzle without snow or Santa, and started sorting before giving myself a chance to question how challenging it would be.

This is a special Gold edition Milton Bradley puzzle, and I found the quality to be quite good. Nice, thick chipboard with a good fit, wonderful colors, and beautiful gold foil accents. I wish pictures could capture the gold foil, it’s really quite beautiful.

Some of the colors were easy to pick out, and once I started getting things assembled the pieces became more familiar and it was easier to notice the subtle differences in color. It’s like most images, the more you do the more you become familiar with it; the more familiar the pieces become, the easier it is to see what you’re looking for. It provided a good challenge though, and kept me intensely focused only on what piece was next and which color goes where.

If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary and this image is one that strikes your fancy, I can definitely recommend this puzzle. I found it to be very good quality, with an image that made for a challenging and engrossing assembly. 👍

Details:

Title: Circles Strokes
Artist: Kirsten Hinte
Brand: Milton Bradley
Piece count: 750 pieces
Size: Approx. 27 x 20 in. (69 x 51 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

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

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Review: Big World

On October 21, 2019October 21, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews5 Comments

If I’m being honest I’d tell you I was a little bit scared to start this puzzle. Look at the image, it’s gorgeous – but I didn’t know where I would begin. Once I started sorting the pieces though, I found a few sections to pull out and start with; when they were assembled it didn’t seem so daunting to keep going and filling in from there. Sometimes I have to just jump in and get myself going, most of the time it’s never as difficult as I think. 🙂

Milton Bradley puzzles seem to have improved their quality quite a bit, I was thoroughly impressed with this puzzle and it’s quality. The pieces are on the smaller side, but not too much so. They had a good hand feel, fit together quite well, and had a very good variety of shapes. The image reproduction is excellent and did the artwork justice in my opinion, the colors are beautiful with no blurriness or fuzzy areas. Overall a very good quality puzzle.

Big World 1

There’s just something about peacocks, they make for wonderful puzzle images. This one is beautiful, and I wish the picture did it justice. It was one of the first things I assembled after the edges and even though there weren’t many pieces to it, it gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

Big World 2

This flying fish balloon and the ship below it – great fun to put together! The use of colors by Ciro Marchetti brings to mind images by Aimee Stewart – both artists produce absolutely gorgeous artwork. This one especially has a dreamy quality, a fantasy image that makes no sense but definitely looks like a world you’d want to visit (or at least I would).

I’ve been a little obsessed with assembling panoramic puzzles lately. It’s much easier on your back to not have to reach so far to put pieces in at the top; having the entirety of the puzzle very close to you is somehow comforting and I am completely enjoying working with them. I only have one more panoramic here in my stash, I guess that means I might have to arrange a shopping trip – these puzzles are good for my mental health.

Big World was more fun than I expected and had much better quality than I anticipated. If you’ve got a long enough workspace to assemble a panoramic puzzle this one is absolutely recommended – two peacock tails way up! 🦚🦚

Details: