My apologies for the glare in this picture, sometimes you just have to do the best you can. 🙂
I started this puzzle yesterday and I’m hoping to have it finished today. All the pieces seemed very similar for the most part as I was sorting, but as I’m working it they are all becoming much more familiar. It’s funny how that happens. No matter how many puzzles I’ve put together I’m always a little surprised by it.
The feel of the pieces is lovely, but I must say I’m slightly disappointed in the very evident piece shapes in the completed sections. Ah well. No lives were lost, it’s really not that important, and it doesn’t take anything away from the enjoyment of assembly.
It’s a beautiful image, and I’m so looking forward to seeing it complete!
I’ve had an odd relationship with this puzzle, it’s been in my home for well over 2 years I think and I’ve started to assemble it several times and ended up putting it away. I’m not sure why this time was a go, but I’m glad I finally got to it – it was very entertaining!
The worst part for me is the very beginning when you see all the pieces you have to sort through. Since my method is to lay the pieces out on trays, I try to decide on several areas to pull pieces for while I’m sorting and traying. I pull the pieces for quite a few different sections for a couple of reasons; 1) to reduce the number of pieces I have to lay out, and 2) to be able to start assembling something right away. Once I have the edge assembled it makes me happy to be able to grab a container of sorted pieces and start to work.
In the case of this puzzle the sections I pulled out were the 4 game boards in the corners, the pieces with words on them, the chinese checkerboard, and the dominoes. The game boards were the MOST fun to put together, the colors are bright and the patterns are interesting. There were many words strewn all around the inside of the puzzle image, and many were hard to complete because they weren’t always easy to find.
I was intrigued by the playing cards with the cats. They all had different phrases on them; The Future, The Past, Love Matters, The Present – what game was this? Does anyone have a clue? Almost all of the vintage games were slightly self explanatory, board games, cards, word games, bingo, etc. The cards with the cats confused me though, were they some kind of kitty cat tarot cards? 🤨
Scrabble tiles, they make me smile. I love playing Scrabble, though no one will play with me around here. I’m pretty good at it and it gets frustrating, apparently, for my family to constantly lose to me. I understand the feeling though, I won’t play strategy games with my husband because he consistently kicks my a** at them. We each have our strengths I suppose. 😉
I’m glad I finally took the plunge and assembled this puzzle. It was fun, the right amount of challenging, and had beautiful colors. I enjoyed it very much, and it is definitely recommended. The quality was excellent, although the fit was a little looser than normal for a Ravensburger; though the image was so compelling and fun that I didn’t mind too much about the fit.
The Sewing Shed by Steve Read – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces
This puzzle had my mom all over it, every piece and every section reminded me of her. It was a sweet, somewhat sad assembly, but in the end it makes me smile. It’s a beautiful image, a great quality puzzle, and brings up many lovely memories for me. 💗
Usually Ravensburger puzzles don’t have such prominent piece shapes in the finished image, but otherwise I can’t fault the quality. The pieces have that fantastic hand feel, and the fit was wonderful. As I’m going along with the assembly, and especially once I’m finished there is a lot of running my hands over the puzzle – no other puzzle feels like a Ravensburger! And for this one I found myself doing even more of that than usual. It feels so nice I can’t seem to stop myself.
One of the first things I noticed when sorting pieces was this little heart…
I didn’t call her “mum”, but she certainly was my bestie! How sweet is that? I love it!
This assembly was so nice that I kept telling myself to slow down because I didn’t want it to be over too quickly. I couldn’t help it for the most part though, I have almost no self control. 😉
This sewing box looks almost exactly like one my mom set up for me when she taught me cross-stitch. I loved cross-stitching, and carried my sewing box everywhere until the handle broke off! I’ve traded my needle and floss for jigsaw puzzles (they’re much easier on my poor aging eyes), but I have wonderful memories of crafting with mom.
Great puzzle, beautiful image, entertaining assembly, and mom – what a fantastic combination!
Laundry Day by Adrian Chesterman – Ravensburger – 300 pieces
It seems like forever since I’ve assembled a Ravensburger, and my daughter found this adorable puzzle on clearance while we were at the bookstore. How could I pass it up? The answer is – I couldn’t! I suffer from PADS, and my happiness was directly tied to finding fun puzzles to assemble, thankfully there were a LOT of beautiful puzzles on clearance and I was a very happy little old puzzle lady that day. 😁
At only 300 pieces, I was able to put this one together in bed on the white board. I needed to be working on a puzzle, but wasn’t feeling well enough to sit at my puzzle table. The smaller piece counts are not only just as fun to assemble as larger piece counts (they are for me anyway), but they’re great when I want to puzzle but have to be in bed. I also find them to be an excellent palate cleanser for when I’m stuck or frustrated with a larger piece count that I’m working on, or after I’ve finished a particularly difficult image.
This unbelievably cute image by Adrian Chesterman was a little more difficult than I thought it would be, but that was a nice surprise. The challenge was welcome, and the puppies were too cute!
The quality, of course, was exceptional; Ravensburger puzzles usually are. The feel of the pieces in my hand was lovely – I think I’ve assembled so many of their puzzles that I would be able to tell which pieces were theirs if I was blindfolded! When I get a Ravensburger, one of the first things I do is open the box and grab some pieces and just run my fingers across them. They are a great thickness, and the finish feels wonderful in my hands.
Also, when I’m holding a piece and thinking about where it should go, I find that I absentmindedly rub it with my thumb. It’s always nice to have a premium quality puzzle that has a good hand feel, and Ravensburger is definitely in that category for me.
This puzzle made me very happy, it was great on all counts – quality, image, and assembly. It gets two wet noses way, way up! 🐶🐶
Christmas Puzzle Ball Set – Ravensburger – 27 pieces each (108 pieces)
Mom found these at the thrift store for 99 cents – brand new in the wrapper! With a larger 3D puzzle I usually have to use the numbers on the back to help with the assembly. With these though, I used only the image. It made it more difficult with the blue snowy sections, but I was pretty darned proud when I got them put together.
There are two images on each ornament, here’s the other side…
They were engrossing and entertaining, exactly what I needed that day. They remind me of my mom – but in a happy way. She always was the best at finding us great deals on puzzles, and this was no different.
My Jigsaw Journal 