Ninety-Nine Butterflies – Bits and Pieces – 300 pieces
This is a beautiful puzzle and it was just what I needed at the time; a smaller puzzle that was the right amount of challenging to keep my brain occupied. It’s not too difficult, but it ain’t easy either!
This was the best quality Bits and Pieces puzzle I’ve ever done. The finish made it look like a china plate – just lovely! The pieces were a good thickness and the fit was excellent. I’ve had several Bits and Pieces puzzles that were extremely loose or that had many pieces that just sit next to each other – or both! Thankfully that wasn’t an issue with this puzzle, it was a pleasure to work with. 🙂
Such a pretty picture, and it was the perfect distraction to keep my nerves in check and help lower my stress level on a very rough day. Thank goodness for jigsaw puzzles!
I Spy Blue (Colorful Kids) – Briarpatch – 100 pieces
This puzzle is so interesting! There are 6 in the set of different colors, and if you line them up it looks like they’re holding hands. Really cool! The poem around the edge tells you what to look for once it’s assembled; it’s also quite handy for assembling the edge itself.
The pieces are thin, but very sturdy. It’s not an easy kid’s puzzle, but it’s worth the challenge in my opinion. If you can find these for a good price, I’d highly recommend them. They’re excellent for assembling with kids, you can help each other find pieces and then compete to see who can find everything first.
It was an entertaining puzzle for the elderly ladies of My Jigsaw Journal, we had fun! 👵
My Sister’s Closet by Tricia Reilly-Matthews – Sunsout – 300 pieces
I liked the quality and the image of this puzzle very much. Sunsout is hit or miss for me sometimes. We all have different things that are important to us in a puzzle, and sometimes the fit of Sunsout is too tight and (for me) it takes away from the enjoyment of puzzling. This 300 piece puzzle though, was a great fit and such a sweet image. 🙂
I don’t believe I’ve worked a puzzle by this artist before, she seems to capture the essence of children. I don’t know another way to explain it, you can tell looking at the little girls in this picture that the artist knows and loves children. Once I looked her up it all made sense, Tricia Reilly-Matthews teaches art to children from kindergarten to 5th grade – of course she paints children so well!
It’s amazing how tastes seem different depending on how much you have to spend on something. This image is very cute, but I don’t think I’d purchase it if I had to pay full price. It’s just not the type of image I’m most drawn to. But ask me to only pay 69 cents for it, and I’m there! Absolutely I’d love to do this puzzle! I wonder if that speaks more to my puzzle addiction, or to my tendency to be a tightwad/cheapskate?
Whichever is the answer, I’m glad mom found this puzzle to do, I enjoyed it very much!
Dear God I Nearly Missed the Bus by Annie Fitzgerald – Vista Puzzles – 100 pieces
This adorable 100 piece puzzle is deceptively difficult! We knew after completing the first of three that were purchased together at the thrift store that these little puzzles take a little more brain power than your average 100 piece kid’s puzzle. I look at the finished image and think “how in the world was it that hard?” I don’t have the answer, all I know is that it was a little bit of a challenge.
They’re very cute, and although a little thin the pieces are sturdy and fit together well. I haven’t come across any other Vista Puzzles before, these are the first I’ve seen. For a kid’s puzzle, I’d say they were about mid range, quality wise. A quick search online leads me to believe Vista Puzzles aren’t in production any more. (I could be wrong, I haven’t yet had my entire first cup of coffee)
There’s one more of these for us to complete so we can donate it, perhaps we’ll get it taken care of on our next visit day. 🙂
The Puzzle that Wrapped up Christmas – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 300 pieces
So now we’ve come to the end of my wooden puzzle “experiment”. This puzzle was the last of 5 companies that I’ve tried. I enjoyed this puzzle very much, even though I chose a puzzle from the extra difficult jigsaw page. I didn’t find it all that difficult to be honest, but it sure was fun! I’ll have a post soon regarding all the wooden puzzles, and what I’ve learned.
Wentworth Wooden Puzzles is a British company that has an excellent reputation for quality puzzles. They’re the last of the reasonably priced companies I could find, and their catalog is quite large. They have puzzles starting at what they call a micro-puzzle (30-40 pieces), all the way up to 1500 pieces. The price is on par with the other companies I’ve tried, and I’ve heard good things about their puzzles so I gave it a go (even though with shipping from the UK it was a bit more).
Most of their puzzles include whimsy pieces, but the majority of the cuts seem a bit “regular” to me; I had already gotten a puzzle with regular pieces so I definitely wanted something different. This led me to their extra difficult page where I found this interesting wrapping paper puzzle. I loved it! And, it has repetitive reindeer shaped pieces in addition to the repetitive image for more of a challenge – Merry Christmas to me! 🎄 Here’s the back of the puzzle so you can see the pieces…
Check out the repetition!
The pieces are about half as thick as the pieces from the other companies I’ve tried, but somehow almost feel more dense. There seems to be a coating or backing applied to the back of the wood as well. Although the pieces are thinner, they are still quite sturdy and they still have that wonderful, satisfying plunk when they fall into place. It’s bliss. 🙂
I poured the pieces out of the bag and thought “What have I gotten myself into?” It was overwhelming to see so many similarly shaped pieces. But once I settled down and really looked at them, I could see small differences in the shapes which allowed me to sort the pieces with purpose. Once the sorting was done, I picked 2 pieces that went together and started building – it really wasn’t very difficult for me at all. I loved it!
I enjoyed this puzzle very much and thought their quality was excellent! I’m still looking forward to trying one of their regular puzzles to see if I like the cut. Perhaps soon I can review one of those regularly cut puzzles, maybe a micro-puzzle?
*I may or may not have gone completely off the rails and ordered more than 30 of their micro-puzzles. I cannot recall at this time your honor.* 😁
Details:
Title: The Puzzle that Wrapped up Christmas
Artist: iStock Photo
Brand: Wentworth Wooden Puzzles
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 14 x 11 in. (36 x 25 cm)
Purchased: New
Quality:
Board: 1/8″ wood
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Excellent – very sturdy box, pieces come in a fabric bag
My Jigsaw Journal 