Ice Cream Social by Lars Stewart – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces
It took me forever to decide which puzzle to do next; my last puzzle of 2023 was a 1000 piece puzzle that was a bleeping nightmare to work with and my first puzzle of 2024 was a little 101 piece puzzle that my son got me for Christmas. I wanted the next one to be entertaining and relatively good quality and seeing this Lars Stewart image made my decision for me – bright colors, lots of words, and lots of yummy, colorful ice cream!
This is a thrift store purchase, and there are a lot of pieces with bent tabs, but otherwise the quality has been good so far. The fit is nice, the finish is matte and has a good hand feel, there are a good variety of pieces and the image reproduction is gorgeous.
Here’s hoping it’s a complete puzzle and it remains fun to assemble!
Flower Deer by Coco de Paris – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces
This one has BARELY begun. No – literally. I hadn’t even opened the box until just over an hour ago. I did an extremely quick sort and put together the border because it’s “in progress” day and there was nothing on my board at all!
Maybe it’s the upcoming holidays, I’m not exactly sure, but I have NO energy for anything at all these days. I’m exhausted all the time and just don’t want to do anything at all. Of course today I have to make two pies for tomorrow and the only thing I want to do is crawl in bed, pull up the covers and take a nap. Sigh.
Anyway, I did another of these Coco de Paris puzzles during the pandemic, Bulldog with Butterflies, and they’re not bad puzzles. Somewhat thinner pieces, somewhat loose fit – I guess I “somewhat” like them. 😉
Tiny Toy Tops by Alyssa Hemsath Mooney – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces
This puzzle was SO much more difficult than it looks; I definitely misjudged the challenge level. From the box image it looked so bright and happy, but the pieces themselves seemed so dark and painterly. It took me quite a bit longer than a 300 piece puzzle usually does.
That isn’t to say it wasn’t enjoyable, because it was. Figuring things out, deciphering the colors and shapes and eventually putting everything back together again gave me such a sense of accomplishment – I did it!
It’s been a while since I’ve done a Milton Bradley puzzle. This one was good quality; with somewhat thin pieces and a good fit. They aren’t a go-to brand, but they’re not too bad either.
If you’re looking for a 300 piece puzzle that’s a little more challenging than most, give this one a try. It definitely gave me a run for my money. 💵🏃♀️
Wool Shop USA by Steve Crisp – Milton Bradley – 300 pieces
This is such a lovely image from Steve Crisp, and doesn’t it look like an awesome shop to visit too? I would definitely enjoy spending a little time in there.
I have been actively avoiding any puzzles with dogs in them, and I honestly didn’t even see the little pupper in this puzzle until I was putting it together. It’s fascinating how I seem to take in the image as a whole and don’t notice things; sometimes glaringly obvious things, until I’m putting it together. I’ve done puzzles with names that let you know you’re putting together a puzzle with cats, but I don’t notice the title – or the cats – until I start assembling. It’s normal for me to miss certain small details until the actual joining of pieces, but many times I miss stuff that is right out in the open.
This was a good quality puzzle from Milton Bradley, with a nice variety of shapes that fit together very well. The image reproduction is gorgeous, as you can see from all the pictures here – even in the close ups there is much detail with crisp lines and no fuzziness in the backgrounds.
I just love the look of this cash register, it’s so much more interesting looking than the little computers you see at stores everywhere these days. I think it would be more fun to use a cash register like this than to just touch a screen – just my opinion of course. Old timey things seem like they’re better made and more aesthetically pleasing to me.
As someone who’s been around crafts all her life, I can say this is an excellent representation of an old sewing machine. This is what they looked like, and they were both beautiful to look at and extremely well made. And there were two old sewing machines in this image, they reminded me of when I was young. My mother had a very old sewing machine in a cabinet that looked like a regular old table, but when you flipped the top over, pulled the machine up, and opened up what looked like a table leaf – you had a sewing machine, with a flat surface for your fabric, and you could pull a chair right up to the table and put your legs underneath. It was VERY cool, and I wish we still had it in the family. 🧵
There’s something about these old timey panels with well dressed women, they’re so perfect for the image. The rest of the image is crisp and clear and both of these panels on the front of the counter are more fuzzy and indistinct, and it gives the whole scene a look of authenticity.
Such a pretty picture – and it was pretty difficult too! I knew it would be going in of course, I just didn’t know how much. The brush strokes made it quite a challenge; but being the puzzle goddess that I am, I finally triumphed! I’m pretty proud of myself for finishing the pretty picture. 😁
The quality of this Milton Bradley puzzle was good/fair. The pieces were on the thinner side, and some were easily or already bent when I opened the box. The fit was good, if somewhat loose, and the image reproduction was good. Overall I found it a bit disappointing, but of course that is just one person’s opinion; you may find that the quality is perfectly acceptable for you, and in the end that is what matters most. For myself though, I don’t think another new purchase of a 1000 piece Milton Bradley puzzle is in the cards for me unless the image was fabulous and I just couldn’t live without it.
All the pretty flowers that look so beautiful in front of Mill Cottage were just blobs of paint. I suppose, when you think about it, basically all paintings are just blobs of color the closer you get to them; but these little blobs of color were very difficult to assemble. I should know better than to buy puzzles like this, brush strokes and blobs are no fun for me!
I loved this little guy, he was one of the first things I assembled. It looks like he’s trying to get the attention of the girl on the shore, and maybe he’s trying to impress her. How sweet. Lovesick little boys are pretty cute, good thing we little girls know how to handle them. 👧
My Jigsaw Journal 