Country Cupboard

On May 14, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles3 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day! This is the puzzle I chose to do for today because it reminds me of my mom. ❤

For most of my youth mom was a stay at home mom, and there was usually something fresh baked or homemade on our table. Not only because she didn’t work outside the home, but because it’s much less expensive to cook things from scratch. We lived in the country and there were plenty of fresh foods for canning and freezing that helped keep our grocery bills down. There were lots of family trips to pick apples, blackberries, cherries, strawberries, etc. And then we “got to” help mom prepare them for whatever she was going to do with them. My sisters and I were not always thrilled about it to say the least. Raspberries and cherries were the worst! Cherries especially because they had to be washed, then you had to remove the stem and then remove the seed inside – one by one. Ugh. We didn’t even like cherries or the cherry pie filling mom made from them!

When I see a jar of canned tomatoes like in this puzzle it reminds me of my mom and how much she worked at home so that she could be at home for us. I’ve turned into my mom, because my kids know how much better homemade cookies are, and that it’s almost always cheaper to cook at home then to go out for dinner. I learned what I needed to know from my mom who is the best there is!

And now as an adult mom is my best friend. A lot of people say that, but for me it’s actually true. We talk every day, go shopping together when I’m able to, work on puzzles together and just hang out whenever we can; we have our own little jokes together and can crack each other up with a single word or a look. I’m so glad she’s my mom and in my life and that I get to see her as much as I do. I love her bunches and bunches!!

This is where the comparison to my mother ends, she’s awesome and the best – this puzzle leaves a lot to be desired. 😐

The pieces of this puzzle fit together so tightly that you can see in the picture that the it doesn’t even lay flat, it’s curled up on the sides. Every piece required a lot of effort to connect, it’s one of my puzzle pet peeves. When I have to work so much to put pieces together it makes me feel as if it’s not the correct placement. This is especially difficult when you have a darker image, you feel you need to check and double check if the pieces really fit there. Also when the fit is so tight the pieces don’t all lay flat and many of them have several edges sticking up; and the piece shapes are quite prominent in the finished puzzle, even from a distance. The image was crisp and clear in some areas and very fuzzy and vague in others. On the plus side, the pieces were quite thick and the variety of piece shapes was very good.

Sometimes it’s hit or miss with Springbok in my opinion. This one was a miss. Thrift store shopping is always interesting, it could be an awesome find or a dud. But that’s alright, there are plenty more puzzles to try – maybe the next Springbok we find has amazing quality and an excellent image!

So Happy Mother’s Day to all – but especially to my thrift store shopping, puzzle hoarding bestest friend. I love you to (puzzle) pieces, but if you need help canning some cherry pie filling YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!!! 😎

Who does this?

On April 29, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

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! 🙂

Stamp Collector’s Dream

On April 21, 2017May 18, 2023 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store PuzzlesLeave a comment

Oh my goodness was this puzzle ever awesome! If you read this blog regularly (although not very many do) you know I love collage puzzles. I’ve been wanting this puzzle for a long time now, and mom found it at the thrift store. YESSSS!!!!

Unfortunately it is missing an edge piece in the lower left corner; but although a bummer, it did not diminish my enjoyment of this puzzle – love love loved it! This is like the matchbook collage, it’s like having a hundred little mini puzzles to assemble and connect. So fun, and so hard to walk away from! Charlie Girard does an awesome job with his collages, they’re always entertaining. 🙂

White Mountain isn’t currently selling this puzzle, but it is still available from some online retailers like Amazon and eBay – or you can see if it’s hanging around at a thrift store near you.

I finished this one in a day 😮 Good thing I can bring my small puzzle board into my bedroom so I can work on it while resting. I just can’t resist a collage, they’re so difficult to leave alone. One piece always leads to another and then you know you need to take a break, but the last piece you put in has a weird color or shape and you know exactly what piece goes there and you just have to remember where you saw it, and then, oh cool, this section connects over here and……………and then, uh, where did the day go?