Review: Mary’s General Store

On March 16, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Ravensburger’s 300 piece puzzles make me very happy; their wonderful, thick pieces were a joy to hold in my hand, and the beautiful image made for an entertaining assembly with just the right amount of difficulty.

The all around quality of Ravensburger puzzles has (almost) never disappointed me. There’s the odd manufacturing snafu that happens, but I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. On the whole, they’re one of the best puzzle brands around in my opinion. The pieces are thick, have a good variety of shapes, and fit together well. The image reproduction is crisp and clean with beautiful colors and a finish that isn’t too shiny and feels good in your hands.

I’ve assembled a few puzzles by this artist, and it seems he’s always able to convey a certain warmth and feeling into the artwork even when the images are vastly different. This image has a small town homey feeling to it, it seems very welcoming to me; plus it was lovely to put together.

It looks as though this puzzle is no longer in production, but if you come across one at a thrift store or yard sale, it’s highly recommended – loved it!

Details:

Title: Mary’s General Store
Artist: Joseph Burgess
Brand: Ravensburger
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 27 x 20 in. (69 x 51 cm)
Purchased: Used

Quality:

Board: Excellent
Cutting: Excellent
Image: Excellent
Box: Very good, quite large for a 300 piece puzzle
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Grid cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Excellent, highly recommended

Review: Farmer’s Market

On March 9, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews, Thrift Store Puzzles3 Comments

This is an adorable image that I’ve seen before but had never come across. I finally acquired two of the three in the series, and am so looking forward to finding the third – I had as much fun assembling it as I thought I would!

Ceaco puzzles seem to be hit or miss in the quality department. I’ve worked some really nice puzzles of theirs and some absolutely terrible ones. It’s not a brand I will normally buy retail, we usually get them second hand. This particular puzzle was one of those I bought in a lot of 26 from Facebook Marketplace and I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. The quality of this one was good, with an excellent fit and wonderful image.

This was assembled in one sitting, at night when the sandman skipped over my house and I couldn’t sleep at all. I stole off quietly to the puzzle room and before I knew it – bam! – it was done. This was one of those rare puzzles where my expectations of how entertaining the assembly would be was spot on. It was thoroughly enjoyable!

Ceaco puzzles aren’t always up to snuff for me, but this one absolutely was. From the first piece to the last it was a great time. Images that make you happy usually make for wonderful puzzling! 🙂

Details:

Title: Farmer’s Market
Artist: Tracy Flickinger
Brand: Ceaco
Piece count: 300 pieces
Size: Approx. 19 x 19 in. (48 x 48 cm)
Purchased: Used

Quality:

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

Overall Rating: Good, recommended

Review: Harry Potter Book 7

On February 15, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews5 Comments

This is the last of the Harry Potter book puzzles from the collector’s set I received for Christmas from my daughter. I absolutely loved assembling every single one of them – even Book 5 which was quite difficult! They’re excellent quality with fun subject matter, and perfect little *One Coffee Puzzles* you can finish in one sitting (perhaps with a cup of coffee or an adult beverage 😉 ).

I haven’t assembled many NY Puzzle Co. puzzles, but I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve done, and this set has raised my opinion of them even more. They have pieces that are a good thickness and fit together extremely well. The image reproduction is lovely with great detail and beautiful colors, and they were so enjoyable that I’d love to assemble every one of them again! All the pieces were the standard 2 prong/2 hole shape (what I call a ballerina), but there was plenty of variety of size and shape within them; accidentally placing a piece wrong was never a problem. With a puzzle of this size the lack of variety in shapes wasn’t an issue for me at all.

Many puzzlers never bother with small piece count puzzles, and I think they’re missing out. I used to think that anything less than 1000 pieces wasn’t worth my time, but I’ve come to the realization that puzzling is fun no matter the piece count. Puzzles of all sizes, shapes, and subjects make me happy! (In fact, we just bought a box of 10 kids puzzles from the thrift store – they’re only 24 pieces each, but they were so adorable and looked like they’d be pretty entertaining; at $1.99 for all 10 we couldn’t resist 🙂 )

Being an adult doesn’t mean I can only do puzzles with “adult” pieces counts; and I love that NY Puzzle Co. has many smaller puzzles in their catalog. Most of us puzzlers love that sense of pride and happiness you get when your puzzle is complete, and I think it’s just as rewarding to have that feeling when you complete a puzzle you can assemble in the time it takes to have a cup of coffee.

I adore these puzzles, and had the best time with each and every one. They’re wonderful quality and highly recommended. Alohomora! Open the box and unleash the magic. 🧙‍♂️

Details:

Title: Harry Potter Book 7
Artist: Mary GrandPre
Brand: NY Puzzle Company
Piece count: 100 pieces
Size: Approx. 7 x 9 in. (18 x 23 cm)
Purchased: New (gift)

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Very good
Box: Very good, 7 boxes inside a larger box
Fit: Very good
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Offset grid cut
Piece shapes: Good variety within single shape
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, highly recommended

Review: Pennant Race

On February 1, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews6 Comments

penannt race — Pennant Race by David Spindel – TDC Puzzles – 1000 pieces

This was quite the interesting puzzle, it’s a TDC Puzzle series called “The Edge”. The box says it’s a jigsaw puzzle with only edge pieces. Every single piece has a straight (or nearly straight) edge, so starting in the normal way isn’t really an option.

Surprisingly I didn’t find it all that difficult to assemble. The bright colors and many different designs made for an entertaining, but not too challenging puzzle. The pieces were a good thickness and fit together really well; I found the quality to be quite good. I was surprised by the fact that the when complete the entire puzzle could be lifted without any of the pieces coming apart. Usually when there are pieces with straight edges that just butt up against each other if you lift or try to move the puzzle it will fall apart. This was designed so that everything connects beautifully – I was impressed!

There were so many words in this puzzle, I had the best time with it! Baseball isn’t really my thing, but collages, bright colors, and having lots of words is definitely right up my alley, or should I say “right up my baseline”?

Only two little buttons for my Detroit Tigers? SHAME! We may not have won the World Series as many times as some other teams, but come on! We couldn’t even have one little pennant shown? 😕 (I don’t really care that much, it’s baseball LOL) The image reproduction was very crisp and clear – some of the pennants had rosters on them, and you can read every name.

If you come across one of these “The Edge” puzzles, consider giving it a try. I enjoyed it very much, and honestly didn’t find it that much more difficult than the average jigsaw – and it was great fun. Batter up! ⚾

Details:

Title: Pennant Race
Artist: David Spindel
Brand: TDC Puzzles
Piece count: 1000 pieces
Size: Approx. 19 x 26 in. (48 x 66 cm)
Purchased: Used, thrift store

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Good
Image: Excellent
Box: Square and sturdy
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

Review: Harvest Festival

On January 22, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews4 Comments

Harvest Festival is a colorful, entertaining, and gorgeous puzzle that I enjoyed immensely! It combined the fun of working with such an interesting image with the challenge of a semi-random cut – and to top it off it was a very good quality puzzle. 🙂

Tidemark puzzles are a new to me company, and I was pretty impressed with both the image and the quality. The pieces are semi-randomly cut, a good thickness, and fit together quite well. The image reproduction is bright and colorful with crisp lines and very little glare. Their catalog is quite small with only 8 images to choose from, but if one of them strikes your fancy you should give it a try. (Most of them are a little muted for my taste, but there may be something you’d love to assemble.)

The wavy lines of color weren’t easy and got a little tedious on the last day of assembly, but I still love the image and am super proud of myself for sticking with it.

harvest festival 1

The artwork by Jonathan Green is so striking that I couldn’t help but enjoy myself; bright colors in a puzzle make me happy, and don’t we all need a little more happiness in our lives? I know I do. 🙂

Details: