The North Pole by Medana Gabbard – Wentworth – 40 pieces
I love the look of this image, it reminds me of an Americana puzzle. It’s very different than the typical Christmas puzzle images that you normally see, and that’s what I love about it. If you look at the middle of the puzzle you’ll see that there’s a nativity scene – that’s something new, especially with this being the North Pole and Santa flying away to do his Christmas Eve work.
The detail makes all the difference, I love the way they’ve cut that Santa whimsy! Wentworth whimsies make me happy, and one of the best parts of their puzzles is opening it up and searching through the pieces to see what shapes they’ve chosen and looking at the detail – at least it is for me.
I don’t get out much, and I have PADS, so my emotions are definitely linked to puzzles. 😉
What? Another Christmas puzzle? I know, but I had three of them already assembled and waiting in my queue before I purchased the Terrible, Rotten, No Good, Very Bad Advent Calendar. So you’ll just have to put up with this and two more holiday puzzles before they are all done for the year.
Although the image is fun and interesting, the fit of this puzzle was not at all to my liking. It has the super tight fit that some Springbok puzzles have, where you have to use some upper body strength to press the pieces into place. It also makes for a puzzle that doesn’t always lay completely flat, because it’s so tight that it curls up in places. I know that some people prefer this very tight fit, but it’s just not for me.
Gnarly fit aside, the assembly was still engrossing and relaxing. Each of the fabrics/textures in the background were easy to pick out and assemble, and at the end it was just a matter of filling in each ornament. Calming, absorbing, entertaining, and all together lovely.
This was my favorite of the sections; Santa after work with his honeydew list of chores. I was able to read some of them, and he certainly has his work cut out for him! Fix the landing beacon, tune the glockenspiel, insulate the attic, and several other things that I wasn’t able to read. That ought to keep him busy and out of Mrs. Claus’ hair for a little while. 🔨🎅
How adorable are these two? Mom has chocolate dipped strawberries for feet, and dad has a licorice scarf and a peanut butter cup hat! Too cute!
Even though the fit was too tight for me, this puzzle still made me happy and provided me with several hours of alone time early in the mornings – peaceful quiet and puzzling. Lovely.
This puzzle is part of a batch of puzzles I’ve brought over from mom’s house. She loved this type of puzzle, especially with the Hallmark ornaments, and grama loved them too. Collages are my favorite type of puzzle, and these Springbok collages with the fabric backgrounds are so fun to assemble – that makes three generations of women who loved to puzzle, and loved this type of puzzle as well – and I assembled it this year in loving memory of the two women whom I deeply loved and learned my love of puzzling from. 💖
Yes, the comedy of errors continues, another missing piece. I find that I can’t even work up any anger about this one, it’s just been too much. Four puzzles with a piece missing, and one puzzle missing entirely and substituted with another. Sigh. And it doesn’t end there….
We also have two extra pieces today in addition to the missing one. So potentially another consumer could have my missing piece, and I could have someone else’s edge pieces. It’s all just too ridiculous for words. A set of 12 puzzles that has so many problems, and that it would end up in the hands of a jigsaw puzzle blogger is just insanity.
The lack of quality control for this batch of puzzles is beyond horrid. I’ve always found that special editions made by Ceaco are much better quality than their “regular” puzzles, but this set is definitely NOT one of those. Missing pieces, missing puzzles, extra pieces – it’s all just been completely outrageous.
Back to the drawing board Ceaco, you blew it on this one. Do Better! We puzzlers deserve the best quality you can give us, and if this is your best then I am done with your brand and I will encourage others to be done with your brand as well.
I just don’t have the energy to rant and rave about this any more. Perhaps if I ever hear from Ceaco, or if there are problems returning it I might talk about this some more, but not today. It’s Christmas.
This image was a little more entertaining for me to assemble, compared to some of the other images in this set; it was nice to not be sighing while I put it together. 😉
In other news, this is my 200th puzzle this year! I’m glad it was an image that was enjoyable to assemble, and one that makes me smile.
I like the two dogs just sitting there with their hats and scarves; and the poor guy on the right is so dark that you can barely see his eyes. It definitely would be challenging in a larger piece count, so much fur and background night sky!
Only one more day to go! Christmas is tomorrow, which I’m excited for, but I think the most exciting thing is that there’s only one puzzle left! I’ll be glad to be finished with the set, and it’ll be nice to get back to my regular puzzles. It will certainly be good for the readers to not hear me b****ing about missing pieces and missing puzzles!
Merry Christmas Eve! I hope to hear all about the puzzles everyone got for Christmas, and if not puzzles, I hope Santa brings you gifts that make you smile. 🎅
Perfect tree in the town square, sigh. Who puts presents under a tree that’s outside? No one I’ve ever known, that’s for sure. If I spent hard earned money on gifts, and spent my time wrapping them I would not put them outside in the snow! Am I overthinking this? Probably.
Out of the ten puzzles from this set that I’ve assembled so far, this was the worst quality. All of them have had a few puzzles with the pieces still connected, but this one had many more than the others and a lot more puzzle dust. Otherwise the quality was good/fair. The pieces fit together well, and it was evident if you tried to place a piece wrongly; the image reproduction is very good, with clean lines and no blurriness, and a slightly shiny finish.
This has almost been like when your parents catch you smoking and make you smoke every cigarette in the pack one after another – it’s been all Christmas puzzles for the last ten days and I am sick of them. Of course I wasn’t a big fan to begin with, but all the problems with these puzzles has me weary of holiday images and is bringing out even more Grinchiness in me.
Only two more days to go. They’ll be fine, there can’t possibly be any MORE problems, that would be beyond ridiculous. You can do it, you got this!
Happy Hanukkah to all my readers who celebrate it! ✨ I haven’t seen any Hanukkah puzzles, but I would love to find one to assemble. I’ve seen a few out there, but haven’t come across any myself.
My Jigsaw Journal 