Mountain Grazing by John Silver – Bits and Pieces – 300 pieces
Mom and I worked this puzzle together, though it isn’t the usual image we prefer; brighter colors and sharper lines are what we usually go for. But since I’ve mostly been doing smaller piece count puzzles lately we decided to give it a go. It was a lot of fun to assemble. ☺
Bits and Pieces puzzles aren’t our favorites, the pieces are usually good but I can’t say the same thing about the fit. I’ve had puzzles where in multiple spots you could just pull the pieces away, but I’ve also had nice fitting ones that I enjoyed assembling. It’s so much more about the fit and the image for me, but I know others have different preferences – we all know what works for us.
This puzzle was pretty darn good quality though, and although the artwork isn’t what we’d typically choose we enjoyed ourselves anyway. (That may have more to do with the quality of my puzzle posse than the puzzle company though. 👵)
Colors of Venice by Joel Christopher Payne – MasterPieces – 300 pieces
When I bought this puzzle I wasn’t paying attention at all, I saw that it was a 300 piece puzzle that also came with a frame for less than $5. What a great deal, and I even like the image. I didn’t realize until I got it home and opened it up that they were MINI pieces – oh no! I had horrible flashbacks of Winter Aspen, but it was only 300 pieces instead of 1000, so I figured I might as well give it a try.
The finished puzzle is only 6.5 inches square – there was more than enough room to put the entire thing on a cookie sheet including laying out all the pieces. Once I got the edge put together I had a great idea; I decided to put the puzzle on the table in the master bathroom and have my husband make good use of all the time he spends in there. He could help me with this tiny puzzle! I told mom and a fellow puzzling friend from Canada (Hi Linda!) what I was going to do and they both thought it was pretty funny. I wasn’t kidding – I knew he’d help if it was right there, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to finish it. (But it is pretty funny 😁 Why do men spend so much time in there?)
Turns out it was an excellent idea! Not only did hubby help me out with the puzzle, we both enjoyed it very much – much more than either of us thought we would. When it was near the end we brought it out of the bathroom and sat on the bed working on it together. He hasn’t helped me with my puzzles for quite a while, but we both had a great time working on this teeny little thing together. Good thing too, because when I bought this one I also bought a second one, he helped me finish that one too. I loved working on puzzles with him again, so I went back and got another one yesterday. Bathroom puzzles are awesome! LOL
Just so you can get an idea of how small this thing is, here is the entire completed puzzle next to my computer mouse…
Talk about teeny tiny! It wasn’t the greatest quality, but I didn’t mind that much. The piece shapes were pretty obvious in the finished image, but once I glued it they weren’t as noticeable. The fit was quite loose as well, but there was something about the small pieces that made it really entertaining – so much so that I overlooked the annoyance of the fit. I enjoyed the challenge of working with such tiny pieces, and this time I had colors to work with, unlike Winter Aspen!
It’s a cool little puzzle that was more fun than I thought, and I’m glad I was too stupid to read the box in the store and process what the word “mini” means. There’s a third mini puzzle in our bathroom at the moment, and hubby and I will hopefully have a great time with that one too! 😎
Fly Away Home by H.J. Gillespie – MasterPieces – 500 pieces
I love the bright colors in this puzzle, and the artwork is quite interesting. Mom and I assembled this together, and although the fit was terrible we had a good time with it. Everything doesn’t always have to be perfect, we can be entertained and appreciate the time spent together puzzling even if it’s quality was sub par.
MasterPieces puzzles have fluctuating quality at times, I’ve had excellent puzzles from them and also really bad ones. It seems as if different series are manufactured at different places, the quality is so varied. The pieces of this puzzle are grid cut and more elongated than most other MasterPieces puzzles I’ve assembled. The image reproduction is very good, as is the piece thickness and variety; but the fit was extremely loose and difficult to work with.
The image is perfect for puzzles and I found it very unique and fun – the colors and patterns made for just the right amount of challenging that day. The artist, Hayley Gillespie, has a delightful point of view and the artwork made the puzzle worth assembling even with the fit problems. I’d love to find more of her puzzles.
Mom is away this week and I won’t be visiting or puzzling with her on Friday. 😪 When real life gets in the way of my puzzle happiness it is such a bummer! Come home soon momma, I miss you already.
This was the first Clementoni puzzle for children that I’ve assembled and I was pretty impressed with the quality – very nice!
The pieces were thick and fit together very well, and the image reproduction was absolutely beautiful. I love the companies that make excellent quality kids puzzles, and Clementoni is one of them. What a let down that a piece was missing and it can’t be passed along so that other kids could appreciate it.
I enjoy putting together kids puzzles. Although I am checking to be sure all the pieces are there before passing it on, I actually look forward to working with them too. It’s nice to start and finish a puzzle in one “sitting”, and the images are usually fun and brightly colored. A puzzle is a puzzle in my book, whether there are 24 or 24,000 pieces. I’m not too grown up to admit I have a good time assembling them and I don’t feel that working them is beneath me or too boring. I’m just a big kid anyway!
One of these days I’m going to have to see this movie; I must have done 5 or 6 Frozen puzzles in the last year and I’m wondering why it’s so popular. All my children are in their mid to late 20’s and I haven’t seen a kids movie in a while. Although I must admit that even though I enjoy kids puzzles I’m not that much of a movie buff and have to be in exactly the right mood to watch them. For now I’ll just stick with the puzzles. 😁
Heart of the Garden by Nancy Wernersbach – Sunsout – 200 pieces
Heart of the Garden is a beautiful shaped puzzle that was just the right amount of challenging – I enjoyed the assembly very much.
Shaped puzzles are quite fun in my opinion; I enjoy the added difficulty of not having straight edges, but it’s still a jigsaw puzzle and I know how to do those! I can’t seem to break myself from trying to find and assemble the edges first even though it’s not the quickest way to work a shaped puzzle. It doesn’t really matter though, as long as I’m having fun I’m doing it right. Have you tried a shaped puzzle? There are so many interesting shapes and images to choose from. You can start small with less than 100 pieces, or go big with 1000 – it’s all up to you. Click to check out all the shaped puzzles currently available at Puzzle Warehouse.
Sunsout puzzles are very good quality, and they have the largest catalog of shaped puzzles that I’ve found. The pieces are a good thickness with a nice variety of shapes, and they fit together very well. Sometimes the fit of their puzzles is very tight but I found the fit of this puzzle to be just about perfect. I found a piece or two that was slightly bent, but these things happen with shipping and storage; it took no effort to put them right and the image looks perfect to me. Click the link above to see all of their puzzles in stock now at Puzzle Warehouse, both shaped and straight-edged.
The beautiful colors in this image are what drew me in, it’s really quite striking and made for an interesting and entertaining assembly. As usual I tried to start with the edges, because I’m stubborn as a mule and that’s how I have to do things. It’s more difficult with a shaped puzzle – not only because the edges are shaped, but because the actual shape can be moved and manipulated and you never get it just right until the interior pieces are put in. It keeps my brain cells working and keeps me completely absorbed in the assembly till the last piece – puzzle meditation. It’s a gorgeous image and the assembly was great, I definitely recommend this puzzle!
Details:
Title: Heart of the Garden
Artist: Nancy Wernersbach
Brand: Sunsout
Piece count: 200 pieces
Size: Approx. 11 x 18 in. (28 x 46 cm)
Purchased: N/A, sent for review
Quality:
Board: Good
Cutting: Good
Image: Very good
Box: Average, quite large for a 200 piece puzzle
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Moderate amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat
Overall Rating: Very good, recommended
I received this product at no cost in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are truthful and 100% my own.
My Jigsaw Journal 