Hound of the Baskervilles

On June 23, 2020June 23, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

This is another interesting but entertaining Charles Wysocki image, and even at only 300 pieces it made for a little bit of a challenge. The tree in the foreground, for example, was more difficult than I gave it credit for. I thought this one would be a breeze, and some parts were, but it wasn’t as easy as I’d assumed it would be.

The name didn’t make sense to me until I really started to look at the image; obviously the storyteller in the foreground is telling the story of The Hound of the Baskervilles to his audience. At least that is the conclusion I came to.

Hound of the Baskervilles 1

Traveling storytellers used to be a thing. Back before radio, television, and telephones, all you got was the information found in the newspapers. There were serial stories in some papers, but unless you lived in a city or town you didn’t have access to a paper every day or week.

Hound of the Baskervilles 2

This man seems as though he’s not just telling a story, he’s acting parts of it out and giving it all he’s got. Good for him! Without access to anything other than stories from their families, I can imagine that it would have been terribly exciting to have a professional storyteller in the neighborhood to tell stories you’d never heard of. Imagine having a Sherlock Holmes detective story told to you in such a dramatic fashion, it must have been so entertaining!

Hound of the Baskervilles 3

I’m admitting that I have no idea what this sign means. If this town is where food processing is done, it’s possible that marinating was done specifically in one place. But this doesn’t look like a food processing plant, it looks like someone’s home. I’m intrigued, but confused about the name.

This puzzle was fun to put together, had great quality, and a beautiful image. There’s not much more you can ask for, is there?

Hound….In Progress

On June 12, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Hound IP — Hound of the Baskervilles by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 300 pieces

I started this puzzle on my white board so that I could work on it in bed; that’s why there’s no pretty plum colored fabric behind it. I didn’t get very far with it yesterday before I had to put it down, but at least I made a start!

It’s been a bit since I’ve done a Wysocki, so I’m looking forward to this image. Sometimes they all seem very similar and it becomes a little boring for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love Americana images, but if I do too many of them in a row or too close together it isn’t as rewarding or entertaining.

I hope you’ll be working on a fun puzzle today, I certainly will be! 💖🧩

Banana Split

On May 17, 2020May 17, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

Ah, a puzzle from a good brand with an image by Aimee Stewart. My happy place. Beautiful, fun, not too easy – the perfect combination for puzzlers both new and seasoned. 💜

Because there are so many different items, colors, textures, and elements you don’t have to focus on the image as a whole when you begin assembling. When you’re turning pieces over, or sorting, or whatever you do when you start a puzzle you will see things that stand out to you. A tablespoon of sprinkles, the striped containers, waffle cones, words, etc.; and you can start small with whatever small image or section you choose. You don’t have to worry about dealing with it all at once like you do when you’re assembling a landscape where 1/3 of the image is the sky or water, etc.

Banana Split 1

This was the first thing I assembled, even before the words. I usually go for all the words first, but these pieces were so easy to pick out, and I was just inspired to start with them. It wasn’t as easy to assemble as it was to sort, but the strawberries certainly were fun! (And I missed a few of the green pieces which made it a little more of a challenge.)

Banana Split 2

The banana split in the middle of the image was the absolute hardest part for me, and pretty much the very last thing I assembled. With those bright colors you’d think it would have been much easier, but it definitely wasn’t – at least for me. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it though, I enjoyed it very much!

Banana Split 3

These cute little guys were so difficult to find and put together, almost all the pieces looked as if they belonged somewhere else – either that or I’m slipping a bit. No matter, I absolutely love the vintage look of them, they are so adorable!

I think I’m down to only one more Aimee Stewart puzzle here at home 😱 but it seems as though many of the puzzle manufacturers and retailers have been getting back to work and restocking, so perhaps I’ll be able to get myself a few more soon. I certainly hope so, only one more of her puzzles here to assemble just won’t do!

Banana Split In Progress

On April 27, 2020April 27, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Banana Split IP — Banana Split by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Unfortunately yesterday didn’t see much puzzling, but I’m hopeful that today will be better. With an Aimee Stewart image on my board, all I really want to do is get back there and start placing pieces. 😍

It just reminds me how much I enjoy working a puzzle with her artwork; the colors are beautiful, they’re fun to put together, not so easy as to make it boring, and it’s lovely to watch the image come together. I’d tell you more about it, but my fingers are itching to be placing pieces rather than typing!

Are you working on something fun this week?

Crystal Cove II

On April 23, 2020April 23, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

This is not an image I would normally go for, but after assembling the Stained Glass Songbirds I wanted to see if this image – also from the Amazing Nature Series – would be as striking. It’s very pretty, but as it wasn’t the same artist it didn’t have the same stunning color usage, and this had such a large amount of blue that it seemed to overpower all other colors.

I think I was spoiled by Stained Glass Songbirds. The artwork of Ciro Marchetti and his color usage was so unbelievably beautiful that all others pale in comparison. It was my hope that being in the same series the artwork would be comparable. It isn’t. But it isn’t fair to the artist of this image, Christian Riese Lassen, to compare his work; it’s comparing apples to oranges. This image is beautiful on it’s own.

Crystal Cove 2

The top of the water wasn’t easy, but was much easier to assemble than below the water.

Crystal Cove 1

The fish weren’t too difficult, but the water and the dolphins took much more time and brain cell usage than the top half of the image.

It makes me happy to have found such good quality puzzles from the thrift stores. At the moment, when the world seems to be on pause, venturing out to the thrift stores for a little bit of puzzle shopping isn’t an option. I am hoping that when we’re all allowed out again that there will be MANY puzzles to choose from at all the thrift stores. All those puzzles that have been sold out at all our favorite online and retail shops have to go somewhere, right?

My hope is that many of those people who have taken up assembling jigsaw puzzles during this time will donate their used puzzles when we’re allowed out again. Spread the Puzzle Love ❣

Perhaps I should be saving my pennies; not for a rainy day, but for the shower of used puzzles that will hopefully be falling on my local thrift stores once things return to some sense of normalcy. ⛱