Tag: Collage

The Dr. Seuss Collection

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles10 Comments

The Dr. Seuss Collection – The Op/USAopoly – 1000 pieces

Of course I loved this one! Who can resist some Theodor Geisel? The first time I saw it online I immediately purchased it – even though my previous puzzles by USAopoly weren’t the best quality.

Didn’t care.

Had to have it.

I’m so glad I did!

The quality of this puzzle was much different than previous puzzles I’d assembled by USAopoly. The brand seems to now be The Op/USAopoly, and the improvement is quite significant. The pieces are thicker with a very good variety of shapes, have a linen-type paper on the front (somewhat like Cobble Hill) that gives the pieces a great hand-feel, and the fit was excellent.

The pieces were (for the most part) extremely easy to sort so I thought I’d do them line by line. But the orange of the ground in Fox in Socks was almost the exact same color as the orange background in Green Eggs and Ham. It was easiest to just assemble both orange sections at once rather than try to just put together Green Eggs and Ham. So once the line by line plan was out the window the OCD kicked in and I decided to assemble all the sections around the outside and leave The Cat in the Hat for the end.

My brain is weird, I know that. Having that little bit of a different section already assembled doesn’t seem like a big deal, but that’s not what my brain thought. It was a big deal and I had to change my plans in a way that made sense to my weird mind. I no longer question the eccentricity – I just embrace the peculiar and try to go with it. 😜🧠

I’ve always loved the story that Theodor Geisel was given a list of 250 words that were important for first graders to recognize and was challenged to write a book that children couldn’t put down. He came back with The Cat in the Hat. Even though he had already published many children’s books that were relatively popular, The Cat in the Hat became an international success because of it’s simplified vocabulary and the fact that it could be easily read by beginning readers.

My kids all love to read, and I credit Dr. Seuss books for much of that. They not only loved to read them on their own, but they also wanted them to be read aloud to them – of course that duty usually fell to mom. One Fish Two Fish and Fox in Socks were both favorites, and at one point I could recite both books in their entirety from memory having read them so often to my babies. 💕📚

This puzzle was passed along to my honorary grandson who ADORES puzzles, and he was so excited to assemble it that I got a picture from his mom just over three hours after I dropped it off – he completed this 1000 piece puzzle in just a few hours! His mom said he never moved from the table after I left, and didn’t even want to stop to eat lunch. My exact words to her were “Holy sh*t! It’s only been a few hours!” 😮

He was there in 2017 when we finally assembled the 40,320 piece Disney puzzle, here he is…

He loved puzzles even then, and we walked around the giant puzzle together and he took a few pieces out of the border and then put them back in so that he “helped” with it. It was so sweet! 💜 When he got home that day, he took the DVD cases from all the movies that they had at home and laid them out on the floor in the order that they were shown in the puzzle. His mom sent me a picture of that too, I wish I still had it!

When he completed the Dr. Seuss puzzle, he went and got all the books he had and laid them on top, in the same way as he put those cases together all those years ago. His mom sent me a picture of that too, and said “Just like your puzzle and the movies.” It was so sweet it was almost heartbreaking!

It makes my heart so happy that he loves puzzles as much as I do, and I thought it might make you smile today to hear this story. It certainly makes me smile! 😊💖

Animal Tales

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles6 Comments

Animal Tales – Re-marks – 1000 pieces

This collage of books about animals was great fun to put together, but it made me feel like I am not well read at all. I’m sorry to say that I have only read two of these books. Shocking, I know. But I’ve seen the movies for many of them, does that count?

It was typical Re-marks quality; great variety of piece shapes, good fit, slightly shiny finish, excellent image reproduction. Their catalog of collage images always keeps me coming back for more. How am I supposed to resist collages of book covers? I just can’t!

I’m a big Agatha Christie fan (💙Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple), and honestly I’ve never even heard of this book before. I thought I knew most of her work, but apparently not.

I have read all of the James Herriot books, and have fond memories of reading them when I was a teenager. That seems like a lifetime ago. There’s something so charming about the way he writes, and reading the stories of the animals he treated was fascinating, sad, sweet, funny, tear-jerking, and so much more. I adored these books then, and this makes me want to read them again now.

Never heard of the Tales of Bunjitsu Bunny, but after assembling this cover and reading the tagline it sounds like a great read. “She can defeat the angriest of waves, outsmart the toughest pirate, and fight like a butterfly. And she never gives up.” It actually made me laugh out loud, it’s the most ridiculous little blurb; perhaps I need to get myself a copy!

…Banned Books In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

I Read Banned Books by Laura Korzon – Mudpuppy – 500 pieces

If you are a regular reader you know how I feel about banned books. 🤬 A regular reader and member of my puzzle posse (and charter member of the PADS posse) who knows how I feel about both collages and banned books sent me this puzzle for an early birthday present. Of course it had to be next on my board – I love it!

It got sorted yesterday, but I wasn’t feeling well and spent much of the day in bed resting. Perhaps I got a bit too much rest during the day because about 1:30 this morning I was up and at the puzzle board getting this one started. 😴

As you can see I sorted them by section and started with the bottom row, but didn’t get all the pieces sorted correctly. It isn’t too surprising, I almost never get things sorted perfectly on the first try. That’s ok, nobody’s perfect – besides, it makes it more fun when I find the piece that’s missing.

It’s going really quickly, and I almost wish it had more pieces; it’s going to be over too soon! I’ve never done a Mudpuppy puzzle larger than 500 pieces, though I do know they make 1000 piecers. Has anyone ever done one of their larger piece count puzzles? If so, I’d love to hear what you think about the quality.

I’m not a fan of the sharp white backing that they use and I wish there was more than one piece shape, but the fit is excellent as is the image reproduction. The image is so entertaining to put together, of course I’m loving it!

Thanks again Penny, you chose a great puzzle! 💙

Stephen King Books In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling8 Comments

Stephen King Books (?) – Unknown Brand – 1000 pieces

While I like the image of this one, it’s the absolute worst quality cardboard puzzle I’ve worked with in quite some time. It’s almost as frustrating to assemble as the bad quality wooden Crafthub puzzles I completed earlier in the summer.

This must be a Chinese knockoff, quickly produced without any care taken towards quality. So far it’s missing one piece and there is an extra corner. In addition it’s incredibly thin, so thin that it’s hard for me to even pick up the pieces from my board or the trays that I keep them in. The fit is horrid and not even two pieces can be picked up together to move; it’s important to assemble the pieces close to where they will be placed or there will be a struggle to move them without everything coming apart.

I’m pretty sure this one will be completed today, I’m motivated to finish it quickly and get it off my board so I can start working on a puzzle with better quality – I’d even be willing to work on a Ceaco if that’s all I had here! 😂

Vintage Fabrics and Notions

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

Vintage Fabrics and Notions by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

What a fantastic puzzle! I adored this beauty from the first piece to the last, and had to keep stopping myself from working on it because it was getting completed way too quickly. Perhaps I need a 2000 piece Aimee Stewart image to work on?

The quality of this Buffalo puzzle was excellent. The image reproduction was stunning, with bright, crisp colors, no blurriness or fuzziness; the pieces were the usual variety of Buffalo shapes and the fit was the best I’ve worked with from this brand for quite a while. When all was said and done I was highly impressed with this puzzle and it’s quality.

This was the first section that I completed, it made me feel a little nostalgic. Mom used to have so many vintage sewing notions and especially fasteners and buttons, I loved to look through them while she was repairing clothes or making something new.

This pattern also made me think of Mom. When we’d all pile in the car to go shopping at the fabric store I would try to keep myself from being bored by looking through all the patterns. Mom spent much longer in the store than my sisters and I liked, and after a while we’d start to whining about having to be there so long. But for the most part she was buying fabrics, patterns, and notions because she was making clothes; and she was making clothes because it was much cheaper than buying them. She made all my prom dresses when I was in high school, and she even made my wedding dress.

Mom was amazing at just about every craft there was, and I didn’t appreciate it when I was a child; when I became a young woman though it was a different story. She was a whiz at doing all those things, and I was a little jealous of her talents; I very much appreciated all the work she put in making things for us all and made sure I told her so. Often.

All the wild and colorful fabrics in this section were really fun to assemble. I’m not sure I would want any clothes from them, but they were entertaining in this puzzle.

I had the best time with this puzzle, and I assembled it at the right time too – our cable and internet went out the night I started this beauty, so of course I had something fabulous to occupy myself with when there was no tv to watch and the rest of the family were losing their minds.

We all should have some unplugged hobbies we can turn to when we need to, don’t you think?