Carnival Costumes by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces
This beauty has been slow going, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the puzzle, and everything to do with me. I’m not able to sit for long, and this has been going together one little costume, or partial costume, at a time. Still, the colors are amazing and I’m enjoying myself even if I’m not in front of the board for any extended periods of time.
The poster that came with this puzzle seems overly large, and in order to hold it and look at certain areas I either need both hands or it has to be folded up a bit. I find this less than easy to work with. Some puzzles (for me) require use of the box image or poster, and this is one of them – but this big poster isn’t the most user friendly, in my most humble Puzzle Goddess opinion.
I may not be able to finish this one today, but at the very least I’m shooting for getting it done by tomorrow. Can’t wait to see it completed, it’s gonna be gorgeous!
I Love America by Charlie Girard – White Mountain – 1000 pieces
This was an “okay” assembly for me, for some reason I wasn’t as entertained as one would hope. I chose this puzzle only because I was looking for a patriotic puzzle for July 4th, not because I was really wanting to put this one together. Mood definitely affects how much I enjoy a puzzle, and I was definitely in the wrong mood for this one.
The quality of this puzzle left a bit to be desired, which is a bit of a bummer because I just took advantage of a sale on their website and ordered a few puzzles. Here’s hoping they’re much better quality than this one. The fit was a little floppy and care had to be taken when moving pieces around, in addition the image reproduction seemed fuzzy in many parts and it was very difficult to distinguish between the darker pieces. A horse, a chocolate chip cookie, a group of beer bottles, and the rocks near a lighthouse – they all seemed to be the same blotchy colors and it was hard to know what went where. It wasn’t terrible quality, but it wasn’t great either. It was passable.
Love the look of a lighthouse, but I’m wondering, why is this “American”? Aren’t lighthouses used around the world? Or is it just this specific lighthouse? Can anyone tell me where this is?
NASA, muscle cars, Betty Boop, Moon Pies, Disney World and what we call football – now there’s no question that these things are American. I enjoyed the license plates spelling out American muscle cars, it was a fun section to assemble, along with the buffalo nickel.
The flag in the shape of the country was easy enough to sort and lots of fun to put together. I wish there were more things to say about this one, but my little old lady brain is failing me at the moment – I’ve got nuthin’.
Happy Fourth of July to those who celebrate, Happy 250th Birthday America, and to everyone else, Happy Saturday!
Nevertheless, She Persisted by Feitzky LLC – Cobble Hill – 1000 pieces
This thrift store find is a puzzle I’ve been wanting to do for a while and I finally found it. I wish I had better things to say about it, but my copy had either been VERY pre-loved and assembled many times or it was an extremely loose fit to begin with. Love the image – love it – but the fit left a bit to be desired.
Cobble Hill is a brand I consider to be towards the higher end of the quality scale: their linen paper makes for an excellent hand feel, their random cut makes for an entertaining assembly, the image reproduction has always been stellar, and the fit is usually good/very good. This puzzle may have been cut at the end of a run when the die is becoming duller making for a looser fit, I can’t be sure as this is a thrift store purchase. I still consider Cobble Hill puzzles to be very nice quality and I never hesitate to buy one if the image speaks to me.
To say I’m shocked that the puzzle is complete would be an understatement. The pieces were loose in the box, which was not taped up well at all. When I got to the checkout at the store and starting putting my puzzles on the counter I reached for the box under this one to find two puzzle pieces sitting there, they had come out of the box when I put it in my cart! The look and feel of the pieces told me they were Cobble Hill, so back into the box they went; but I was thinking about it all the way home and had convinced myself that there were going to be missing pieces in this one. When it came to putting in the last few pieces, I saw that their were four left – and four spaces – and I said, out loud, to no one, “I can’t believe it!”.
The piece shape is very prominent in this puzzle, which doesn’t at all detract from the enjoyment of the assembly for me, but does make getting a good picture difficult. I took several close up pictures of the puzzle but even close up it’s challenging to see the image behind all the lines. I wasn’t happy with any of them, even after messing with them in editing, so I’ve just taken a picture of the poster that came with the puzzle.
As a woman who supports women I love the thought behind this image. Without getting too political however, I question the inclusion of one of these women (who did NOT support females), and also the exclusion of the woman whose persistence in the face of bullies and having things “mansplained” to her before being silenced is the reason that Nevertheless, she persisted became a rallying cry for feminists. Just my own personal opinion of course – we ladies are still allowed to have our own opinions about things.
The loose fit was quite a bother to work with, but I still found myself lost in the assembly at times, completely focused on the pieces and where they went. I’m glad I finally got to assemble this puzzle and I did enjoy it, just not as much as I’d hoped. Still, Cobble Hill puzzles are good quality and I never hesitate to recommend them.
Disney & Pixar Color Palette – Ravensburger – 500 pieces
For some reason I was a little apprehensive about this puzzle, but there was no need to be – it was an excellent assembly. For the second puzzle in a row I found myself wishing it was a larger piece count because the fun was just over too quickly.
Most excellent Ravensburger quality, the fit was exceptional, the image reproduction was beautiful, there were a nice variety of pieces shapes – in short I’m saying it was an excellent quality puzzle and it made for a highly entertaining assembly.
The only drawback, again, was the puzz fuzz. It takes no time at all to shake the pieces in a colander (take a tip from me though and don’t do it over the garbage can in case you get a little too aggressive with the shaking and a piece jumps out into the trash). Then I leave the pieces in the colander sitting inside the box while I’m laying them all out so that my reaching in and getting a handful of pieces moves things around and gets rid of any remaining blue fuzz. I don’t consider it much of a problem but some people do so I want to be sure to let them know. To be honest I’d rather deal with puzzle dust on an excellent quality puzzle than work with a lesser quality brand with that sharp white backing. But that’s just me, you have to decide what works for you and what doesn’t.
I assembled this one without using the box image, so other than the characters around the edge I had no idea where anyone went. As an added bit of challenge there are many characters that I have no idea who they are! My kids are all in their 30’s, so we stopped watching Disney and Pixar movies together quite some time ago and many of the characters are very new to me.
I also did something different with this assembly; the only thing I sorted was the edges, I didn’t pull any colors or characters, all the pieces were just laid out on trays. Each little character is pretty small and pulling out pieces for sections would have taken lots of time so I just put all the pieces on trays and once the border was assembled I started on the far right and assembled each column. Here and there I found a piece that I knew where it belonged and put it in, but for the most part it was put together one column at a time. I enjoyed it very much!
I chose three characters from Winnie the Pooh, because it’s one of my most treasured memories as a child. I had a book that came with a cassette tape that “acted out” the book, which was voiced by the actors from the short films. In addition we had an 8 track of the same short film to play in the van on long trips to tournaments that my dad was umpiring. My sisters and I knew all the words to every song, and especially loved to quote from it. Winnie the Pooh and his friends bring back happy memories and make me smile.
I wasn’t always sure why I liked Piglet so much, but now as an adult with severe anxiety issues perhaps it was recognition of a fellow traveler. He was always shaking and stuttering and full of anxiety, so of course I loved him. And Tigger. Silly, sweet, bouncy Tigger, he always made me smile and I identified with him too. He had so much energy! You know what they say about Tiggers don’t you? They’re bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, fun, fun, fun, fun, fun!
This puzzle was great quality with a great image that made for a great (if too quick) assembly. It was much more fun than anticipated and I loved it. It was put back in it’s box and sent off to Penny – here’s hoping she has as much fun with it as I did!
Love Stamps 2 by Lois B. Sutton – White Mountain – 500 pieces
It’s Father’s Day here in the United States, so I just wanted to give a shout out all the dads out there – Happy Father’s Day! My own dad has been in the hospital twice already this year and he’s almost 80, which has emphasized to me that there are a finite number of days we have left together. Even though I tell him I love him every time we see each other I wanted to take the time today to let him (and everyone out there in blog-land) know how much I love him and that I appreciate him more than he knows. I’m proud to be his daughter; he’s a wonderful man and a great dad and I love him to the moon and back. 💗🌙💗
I chose this puzzle as my next one and had already started sorting it when I finally really looked at the image on the box and saw the “Love you Dad” stamp – could it be more perfect for Father’s Day? Honestly, I didn’t pick this puzzle because of that stamp, it was just a happy little accident, as Bob Ross used to say. 🎨🖼
Literally this stamp and the border is all I have accomplished so far, but I can tell this is going to be an excellent assembly. The fit is lovely, the image reproduction is sharp and clear and it’s just fun to work with. Because today is Father’s Day this is the only stamp that was important to get finished (or nearly so) before I give myself a break to go and rest.
Dads, I hope you have a great Father’s Day today – we appreciate you! Hopefully you’ll have some time to yourself to puzzle, golf, fish, watch sports, scratch all those places that need it, or whatever it is that makes you happy. And… without moms there would be no dads, so Happy Father’s Day to all you moms out there as well. 😉
If it isn’t Father’s Day where you are – Happy Sunday my friends, and happy puzzling!
My Jigsaw Journal 