At The Vets

On May 4, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

I’ve been in a What If and Wasgij mood lately, I keep switching from one to the other. I like the added challenge of not having a picture to work from and I suppose I’ve been wanting to use my brain to prove it’s still there and functioning. 🙂

So for this puzzle, the picture shows what Brett the vet hopes the surgery (they say surgery in Europe instead of office) would look like if he stops making house calls and everyone has to come to the surgery instead. The puzzle is what actually happens when everyone has to come to the surgery/office. It doesn’t turn out to be as calm as Brett had hoped!

This puzzle was really fun for me as I didn’t even use the box for clues. Usually you can tell what certain characters are wearing and where they might be in the image and use those clues to assist in the assembly. I put the box away completely and just started working the puzzle and I must say it was a great time! I didn’t know who was wearing what or where anything was supposed to be so it was all just assembling and paying attention.

I can’t really put into words how much I enjoy taking a few pieces of a certain color and looking how they may fit together and putting them where they’re supposed to be. It’s a sense of pride almost, but also it’s just a good time for me. Again, this is clumsily worded and it doesn’t convey how much I adore doing jigsaw puzzles, but it’s the best I can do for today. Apparently my brain is helping with puzzles today, but not vocabulary. 😉

Golf

On May 2, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles1 Comment

According to the box the name of this puzzle is The Mandolin Puzzle of Golf, but that’s just strange to me and doesn’t seem right. It’s like saying The Ravensburger Puzzle of Memorable Disney Moments, weird! For the purposes of this blog I’m just calling it Golf.

I don’t believe Mandolin puzzles are still being manufactured as I was unable to find a website or place to purchase from the manufacturer. There are still puzzles being sold on Amazon and eBay, which is where hubby ordered this puzzle – still sealed. The copyright on this puzzle is from 1993.

The quality of this puzzle was hit or miss. The thickness of the pieces was quite good and they fit together very well. The pieces, however, were not all cut all the way through and there were a lot of pieces that were still connected with paper hanging off of them. Also, the image reproduction was crisp and clear in some places and very fuzzy in others. As with a lot of puzzles, even if the quality is lacking some, the puzzle image itself can make the assembly enjoyable.

Despite the quality issues though, I enjoyed assembling this puzzle very much; I love me a collage! You can’t tell from the picture, but there are a lot of words to assemble which I adore – the names of each person shown, golf courses, dates, and products are all there. The inset circles were fun as well, and it was easy while I was sorting the puzzle to pull out pieces with words and parts of the circles. The grass was a bit of a challenge, but in the end there weren’t that many pieces out of 1500 that were only grass.

The whole assembly was fun and I think hubby did a surprisingly awesome job picking out the 2 golf puzzles he did. They are both going to look excellent framed and hanging in the golf room! 🙂

The Wasgij Express!

On April 30, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

So I finished my first Wasgij Mystery – huge surprise coming up ………………. loved it!!! As is normal for me I refuse to spoil the fun for anyone so I’m only showing a small bit of the puzzle so you’ll have to figure it out for yourself.

Recently I received an email from the site where I purchase most of my European made puzzles telling me that for the 20th anniversary of Wasgij Jumbo was re-releasing the first Wasgij Original, Mystery and Destiny titles. This is what actually spurred me on to make my first puzzle purchase since the World’s Largest Jigsaw Puzzle. (Yup, I did that. 😎 40,320 pieces!) Since I’m relatively new to Jumbo puzzles, I’m almost 20 years behind and definitely didn’t have the first of anything. That meant time to get an order together! This is the first of the Retro puzzles I’ve assembled. I know, you’re all super surprised that I like it, right?

The answer to the question “What will happen to our secret agents next?” isn’t an easy answer – and the solution to their problem is complicated! I’m proud to say I figured it out pretty quickly, and was eager to puzzle and actually see the result. So much fun. I keep saying that over and over with every puzzle, don’t I? It was fun! Perhaps I need a thesaurus?

Graham Thompson’s artwork – amazing as usual. Lots of detail, lots of humor, wonderfully colorful and bright. Jumbo’s quality – amazing as usual. Excellent fit, thickness, image reproduction, piece shape, etc. So to sum up – this puzzle was awesome!

It’s a good thing I have a LOT of Wasgij puzzles to assemble because I absolutely adore them. Not just the quality (but that is a huge plus in my book), but the concept and artwork as well. I love not having the picture to work from and having to figure out how the picture on the box is relevant to the finished puzzle. I wish I had more of them to be honest, but I’ll have to make due with the stack in my closet that is taller than me. I think it’s about 6 feet high. 😮 I’m a little addicted.

Who does this?

On April 29, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Double Trouble – Unknown manufacturer – 100 pieces (actually there’s only 93!)

Why go to the trouble of donating a puzzle to a thrift store when there are so many missing pieces? While I honestly appreciate everyone who donates to thrift stores (it’s our main source of cool puzzles!) I don’t understand why they would donate a puzzle missing 7% of it’s pieces. When mom and I are done with a puzzle that we don’t want to keep we take it back to the thrift store – unless it’s missing pieces. We know how frustrating it is to work on a puzzle only to find out at the end that all the pieces aren’t there and we don’t want to knowingly do that to anyone else. I know that’s the risk we take buying a jigsaw puzzle used, a piece or two could have escaped while it was being re-boxed, things happen. Those don’t bother me as much as the ones that are obviously missing a LOT of pieces. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better to just put it in the recycling? This is why I’ve started assembling the smaller puzzles that we get for my “grandson”, I don’t want to give him a puzzle that can’t be completed. Alright, I’m climbing down off my high horse. 😉

Pretty good day of puzzling today, I’m working on the 1500 piece golf puzzle for hubby. It’s coming along quite well and I’m enjoying it immensely. From what I’ve been able to find online I don’t think this brand of puzzle is still being manufactured; the one I’m assembling is from 1993. There are Mandolin puzzles on Amazon and eBay, but I’m not finding a website or a place to purchase them from the manufacturer. Interesting.

Also, mom and I finished a 500 piece Springbok puzzle today that we started yesterday, and it was very cute! I haven’t written the post about that one yet, but it’ll be up on the blog eventually. It’s so nice to have time with mom where we can just sit and talk and do puzzles together, we always have such a good time. Even when the puzzle isn’t the best the fact that we’re working on it together is what matters. Puzzle buddies rock! 🙂

The 50 United States of America

On April 28, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Yup, another kid’s puzzle and another new company! It only took a few minutes to assemble this one, but it was so cute!

Lafayette Puzzle Factory is a new one for me and I know they do adult puzzles too – I’m looking forward to trying one. The pieces of this puzzle were on the thin side but are extremely sturdy which is excellent for a kid’s puzzle. The colors were amazingly bright and pretty without being over the top and the pieces fit together very well. I’m very impressed with the quality!

This is an excellent informational puzzle as well, it shows the 50 states and their capitals-it even shows something extra in a few states, something they’re well known for. Oranges from Florida, grapes from California, farms in Iowa, etc. I will admit though that at first I had no idea what they’re showing in Nevada and I had to really look at it to figure it out!

Great first puzzle from this company, if the adult puzzles are as well made I’ll be a happy puzzler! 🙂