Review: Pattern 3

On June 23, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews1 Comment

Pattern 3 by Patchwork – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

I absolutely love these puzzles by Patchwork; as soon as I finish one I’m wishing I had another one to do. The patterns and colors make for the most entertaining puzzling experience – and the quality is pretty darn good too!

These patterns would be phenomenal in a larger piece count as well, they really are quite fun to assemble – at least they are for me. I know not everyone has the same taste in puzzle images, if we did think of how boring puzzle shopping would be! These are definitely my cup of tea though; a collage of bright, beautiful colors and interesting patterns – along with great quality.

I’m still on the lookout for Pattern 1, I’m sure I’ll come across it one of these days. I’ll be pretty darned excited when I do – because these puzzles make me very happy!

Details:

Title: Pattern 3
Artist: Patchwork
Brand: Milton Bradley
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Brick style box with plastic lid
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Matte finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, highly recommended

Garden Shed

On June 21, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles7 Comments

This is a beautiful puzzle that was a little bit challenging, but altogether lovely to assemble. The artwork is charming, the quality was excellent, and the entire experience was entertaining.

I don’t always care for images with so much pastel or muted colors; but this one was quite fun to assemble. The number of different flowers made me really pay attention to patterns and shades, and added to the difficulty level. I enjoyed the artwork and the color palette very much, and would love to find more puzzles by this artist. I have done one other puzzle by Geraldine Aikman, but the color palette was brighter with more primary colors.

These premium Milton Bradley puzzles have very good quality. The pieces have a good feel, are made with thick chipboard and fit together very well. There are a good variety of piece shapes, and the image reproduction is true to the image on the box. Regular readers know I don’t usually comment on puzzle boxes, but these boxes have a “premium” feel and aren’t made of the relatively thin cardboard that you find on most puzzle boxes.

I love the detail on the inside of the shed – including the cat!

For a puzzle with only 300 pieces, this one offered enough of a challenge to keep my mind engaged and keep me occupied for a few hours. Exactly what a puzzler like me enjoys! I know 1000 piece puzzles are the “norm” and the most popular piece count, but at the moment I’m mostly doing 300 and 500 piece puzzles. I’m glad there are plenty of excellent choices in those pieces counts to keep me happily puzzling for quite some time.

Review: Rooster Express

On June 19, 2018February 5, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Rooster Express by Charles Wysocki – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces

I love a Wysocki image that isn’t the norm, ones that maybe only have one house instead of many; or ones that feature something different, like this rooster. This puzzle is the perfect example of that.

Most puzzles by Charles Wysocki we’ve done are produced by Buffalo Games, every once in a while I come across one from another manufacturer. This beauty is made by Milton Bradley. The quality is very good; with thick pieces, excellent image reproduction, and a beautiful fit. It was a joy to assemble!

I assembled it a little differently than usual, I started from the top and put together the sky, buildings, and fields. Then I went to the bottom and assembled the road, wagon, and rooster. After that all that was left was the grass, which didn’t take much time at all. It was over too quickly! It was more fun than I thought it would be, those are my favorite types of puzzles. 🙂

Details:

Title: Rooster Express
Artist: Charles Wysocki
Brand: Milton Bradley
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Average
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Sunset Over a Busy Day

On May 24, 2018May 24, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

This puzzle was a pleasure to assemble, the gorgeous colors and exceptional fit made for a great time. Doesn’t this look like a great spot for a getaway?

The picture above doesn’t do this puzzle justice, the image is absolutely beautiful and the colors are stunning. I would have liked to have the artist’s name somewhere on the box; I searched every inch of it and nowhere is credit given to the artist. If I were an artist that licensed my work to be made into a puzzle I would definitely want credit for it! Thank goodness for the internet, with the name of the painting it was easy to find the name of the artist and I can at least give him credit here.

Most of the Milton Bradley puzzles I’ve assembled so far have been very good quality. Their pieces are a good thickness, they have a very good variety of piece shapes and the fit is excellent. The image reproduction is excellent as well and in general I’ve been thoroughly impressed with their puzzles.

I’m not always in the right frame of mind for an image like this one, but Sunset Over a Busy Day was just what I needed. The sky was easy to start with, and the dock and cabin offered enough of a challenge to keep it from being too easy. I find that my moods directly affect the type of puzzles I choose to assemble. I haven’t completely figured it out yet, which moods prefer which puzzles – all I know is some days I won’t even consider a certain puzzle and a few days later that same puzzle is exactly what I’m looking for.

Perhaps that means that it’s pretty important for me to have a very good variety of puzzles to choose from. So mom keep up that thrift store shopping, my ever-changing moods require a wide variety of interesting puzzles to choose from. ☺

Provence Market

On May 19, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was quite a difficult puzzle for only 300 pieces, but I was looking to keep my mind engaged and this image certainly did the trick! It’s a beautiful picture, but the style of the artwork makes it a bit of a challenge to assemble.

The quality of this Milton Bradley puzzle was exceptional, with very thick pieces that fit together beautifully. The image reproduction is lovely, and it never ceases to boggle the mind how the mottled looking colors on the pieces turn in to such a charming image. I love how almost all of the brands of 300 piece puzzles are such excellent quality. I’m enjoying all of these smaller piece count puzzles and their wonderful quality.

It’s interesting how my image choice depends so much on the piece count. I highly doubt that I would choose to assemble this image in anything larger than 500 pieces. The art style makes it quite a challenge and I think it would just be too frustrating for me. This was a fun assembly though, and the right amount of difficulty.

There are so many beautiful 300 or 500 piece puzzles out there, and I find that most of them with larger pieces are wonderful quality. I’m looking forward to finding more interesting and challenging puzzles!