Tag: Jigsaw Puzzling

Fantasy Golf In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Fantasy Golf (What If? No. 18) by Geoff Tristram- Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

Obviously I cannot show you the puzzle that I’m currently assembling; it’s a mystery puzzle and showing the image, even just in progress, is a spoiler. Instead I’m sharing the picture on the back of the box. This is the artist, Geoff Tristram; his photo is on the back of every What If? puzzle that he draws, and he’s always dressed up in outfits that relate to the theme of the artwork.

The box says “What If? Golf suddenly became easier to play? Just imagine how delightful a round could be…” From what I can see so far, it’s going to be another beautiful bit of cartooning from the artist, and more fun and funny characters and situations to assemble.

Hubby is off at a golf tournament today, so I’m hoping working on this puzzle brings him good luck. 🍀⛳

*If he wins, we can use the cash prize to buy more puzzles! 😎*

Summer Books In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling6 Comments

Vintage Summer Books by Aimee Stewart – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

Once again I’m working on a puzzle with an image by Aimee Stewart, and I can’t seem to keep myself away from it! It’s too much fun, and it keeps calling me back. 😊

This picture is only one small bit of the puzzle, because the only way to get a good picture of the whole thing without glare from the lights is to stand the board against the wall the way I do when I finish a puzzle. Taking off all my trays and containers of pieces wasn’t something I felt like doing this morning, so you just get to see one corner. I would apologize, but…I don’t want to.

Finishing up the sorting yesterday I kept having an argument with myself about whether or not this was the puzzle to assemble next. Watching all the pieces line up on the trays, seeing all those flowers and all that greenery – I kept thinking that it’ll be too difficult and maybe I should do something else. As you can see I decided to keep going (or I couldn’t decide whether or not to stop and got caught in a loop of indecision). 🤷‍♀️

There have been one or two puzzles with Aimee’s artwork that were full of flowers and vines and lots of green things; they were the most challenging puzzles of hers that I’ve done. It looks like this one might get difficult once all the books are done, but for now I’m REALLY enjoying myself!

What are you working on? Any fantastic images that I might want to see? Do tell!

Garden Study In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Garden Study of the Vickers Children by John Singer Sargent – Laurel Ink – 500 pieces

I finished sorting and started assembling this thrift store purchase yesterday, and made very good progress if I do say so myself. Fine Art puzzle images can be notoriously difficult to assemble, and this one is no different – but for some reason this one seems more enjoyable than others I’ve done.

The only pieces that are left now are shades and shapes of green, so they have all been sorted by shape and then we’re off to the races. Wish me luck!

Tranquil Waters In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling2 Comments

Tranquil Waters – Tuco – 408 pieces

I made a fantastic find at the thrift store this week – this amazing Tuco puzzle that was manufactured in 1958! I’ve never had the opportunity to work on one of these puzzles before, and I’m so amazingly thrilled to have found it.

The image isn’t anything like I would normally choose, but the very old box caught my eye. It doesn’t tell you a piece count, only that there are “approx. 425 to 990 Tuco king-size puzzle parts” and it also says it is a “100% Interlocking Picture Puzzle”; there was also the word complete handwritten on the front of the box. Well, I was intrigued. I’ve seen Tuco puzzles in other blogs or on resale sites but for the most part they were all puzzles whose pieces just push together and I usually just find that frustrating.

My mother and I developed a system for thrift store puzzle shopping – mostly for brands with quality that can be questionable. We always had a small pair of scissors or something sharp in our purses along with a small roll of clear tape. When a puzzle from a questionable brand was in a taped up box we could open it, check out the pieces to see if it was something we might want to assemble and tape it back up if necessary.

I still do this when shopping for puzzles at thrift stores and I opened this puzzle box to check out the pieces, to say I was stunned would be an understatement! The pieces are the thickest I’ve ever seen for a cardboard puzzle, they put Ravensburger and Pomegranate to shame…

That’s a piece from Ravensburger on the left, and a pre-pandemic Pomegranate on the right – the pieces of this Tuco puzzle are as thick or thicker than some wooden puzzles I’ve worked! (I think when I write up the post for this completed puzzle I’ll show pieces from premium cardboard brands along with wooden puzzle brands for comparison.)

Once I saw the thickness of the pieces, and that most of them had tabs that fit into other pieces there was NO WAY I wasn’t buying this puzzle. As an added bonus the color on the price tag was the “color of the week”, so it was half price, which means I paid $1.50 for this amazing find!

The image is mostly a dark landscape with lots of green and a pond or river in the foreground with even more green, but it doesn’t matter. It’s such an amazing puzzle to have found at the thrift store, and I am extremely excited to assemble it! 😍

Clue In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling27 Comments

Clue – Spin Master – 1000 pieces

I just finished sorting this morning and quickly put together the logo that goes in the middle – and I got all the pieces on the initial sort – way to go me!

The quality is less impressive than I was hoping for; the pieces are thin, the fit is very loose and there are a LOT of bent pieces. It’s quite different than Harmony Harbor by the same brand that I just posted about two days ago. That puzzle had quite a few bent pieces as well, but the chipboard was thicker, the finish was matte instead of shiny and the fit was very good.

According to the blog this is my first 1000 piece puzzle by this brand, and unfortunately so far I’m underwhelmed.

Apparently this is one of a series of six puzzles with images of classic board games, the others are Guess Who?, Monopoly, Battleship, Life, and Scrabble. They aren’t available online other than on resale sites; you can only get them in-store at Target and they seem to be extremely difficult to get. I wasn’t aware of any of this when I purchased it, and honestly I’m finding it quite frustrating just trying to get any information about this puzzle and/or the series.

Here’s hoping the assembly is less exasperating than the search for info about the puzzle itself. Fingers crossed!🤞