Puzzles Rock – My Jigsaw Journal

Quilting Country IP — Quilting Country by Eric Dowdle – MasterPieces – 1000 pieces

When looking for the next puzzle to assemble, I found this little gem hiding in the back row of one of my shelves. It’s a thrift store puzzle that mom bought for us sometime last year. After assembling Quilt Blocks earlier this month, I was so pleased to find another quilt puzzle here ready for me to get going on it.

Most of the time I find that Eric Dowdle’s artwork makes for difficult puzzles, and this one is no different. It’s a bit challenging, but what else do I have to do with my time these days? A difficult assembly keeps me intensely focused on what I’m doing; and with that intense focus comes an almost meditative state where the next piece, a certain shape, or that one color is all I’m thinking about.

Jigsaw puzzles give me a welcome respite from thinking and worrying, which I seem to be doing a lot of these days. Each puzzle waiting to be assembled is hours and hours of down time for my brain – best hobby ever!

Puzzles rock! 🧩🤘

Mansfield Air Spectacular by Charles Wysocki – Buffalo – 1000 pieces

I had a fantastic time with this puzzle; it was great fun to assemble, the image by Charles Wysocki was excellent, and it had the usual outstanding Buffalo quality – it was one of those all around wonderful puzzles. Though it was a bit more challenging that I’d assumed; that sky took much more time than I thought. Yikes!

There have been many, many Buffalo puzzles that I’ve assembled, and I can’t recall ever having a major quality issue with any of them. The pieces are thick, fit together well, and there are a very good variety of piece shapes. The image reproduction is stellar, and in general they are an excellent quality puzzle that I never have any hesitation in purchasing.

Mansfield 2

The stands where the people sat were great fun to do, so many arms, legs, etc. I found it to be quite enjoyable, and a bit more difficult if you don’t look at the box.

Mansfield 1

Love that all the pilots were women! Once I started sorting pieces and saw that the faces were all female I said out loud (to no one) “Props to the ladies!”. 👩‍✈️💪 Yes indeed, I talk to myself and my puzzles while I’m assembling them; I am not ashamed to admit it.

I’m enjoying Buffalo puzzles in the larger piece counts much more than I used to, and even find them soothing for some reason that I can’t quite put into words. They’re wonderful quality and have a large and varied catalog of images to choose from. If you haven’t tried a Buffalo puzzle before, give them a go – they even have these fun zig-zag shaped pieces that no one else does – sometimes it makes it easier, and sometimes it does not.

Mansfield Air Spectacular was a great time in a small box. Puzzles Rock! 😎