Work In Progress

On May 27, 2026May 27, 2026 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Work In Progress by Ken Zylla – SunsOut – 300 pieces

A thrift store puzzle! The first one I’ve worked since I came back, and it went together quickly. I don’t have many smaller piece puzzles here; combine that with me re-reading through my blog and seeing all the amazing puzzles mom used to find for us to do from the thrift stores – and I got a bee in my bonnet about going to find some “new” puzzles to do.

I was pleased to find some great deals, although if you ask me the price of some of the puzzles at the thrift store was ridiculous. $4.99 for a 100 piece kid’s puzzle? I don’t think so! So I was happy to find a couple of Ravensburger 1000 pieces for $2.99 each, a box of 8 Disney puzzles (Mega Puzzles brand) for $4.99 and a few other interesting images and brands I hadn’t heard of. Mom would be proud of me! 💖

Anyway, to the puzzle. The image jumped out at me for some reason I’m unable to articulate properly, which is why I bought it. SunsOut isn’t a brand I usually buy – and it’s one we (the puzzle posse) never purchase new. If it’s a great image and a good price at a thrift store then I’ll get it; luckily that’s what this one was. I enjoyed this one immensely and it went together quite quickly as it was only 300 pieces and an easy one to sort.

The quality wasn’t great, the fit was VERY loose. Two pieces put together couldn’t be picked up and moved without them coming apart. Annoying. But once I realized that I changed where I was putting pieces together – the trick is to only assemble pieces as close to where they belong as possible, that way I won’t have to pick them up to move them. I find that pretty darn annoying, but it doesn’t preclude me from actually assembling a puzzle that is otherwise entertaining.

I’m missing and remembering my beautiful momma a lot these days, and somehow this puzzle made me feel a little closer to her today. She loved a bargain, she loved jigsaw puzzles and finding puzzle treasures for the both of us to assemble; she loved stopping at my house on the way home from her puzzle hunting to show me what she found and maybe helping me out for a little bit on whatever puzzle was on my board. She loved me so much, we were truly best friends and talked to each other every single day, we loved spending time together and I loved her to puzzle pieces!

I miss you momma. So much. 😥💔

Bee Farm

On February 13, 2022February 11, 2022 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

Bee Farm by Tom Wood – SunsOut – 300 pieces

There’s something about this image. I don’t know why, but it’s just compelling. I’m not much of a SunsOut fan, but when I saw this puzzle at the thrift store I had to get it.

The puzzle itself was good quality, I loved the random cut pieces – it’s a nice change from grid cut. It takes a few minutes for my brain to catch up and remember how to look at the pieces and see how they could fit together; but it’s nice to switch things up and keep my gray matter on it’s toes, so to speak. The fit was on the loose side, but it’s a pre-loved puzzle and that’s to be expected sometimes.

The assembly didn’t take very long, and the most difficult part was the two beehives. I enjoyed it very much and it was completely worth the $1.99 I spent on it. Excellent image by Tom Wood, and it made for a great afternoon of puzzling.

If My People…

On May 21, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

This image is fabulous, but unfortunately the quality of the puzzle didn’t match. This puzzle had the thinnest pieces I’ve ever seen from Sunsout – it almost felt like a Cardinal puzzle from the dollar store. The fit wasn’t great either. In addition, a missing piece and two pieces that had been chewed by a pet or a child. Why would someone donate a puzzle like that? I don’t get it.

The image of hands repairing a battle-worn American flag is absolutely beautiful, and I truly wish it had been licensed to a company with better quality. That seems harsh, and it is; but this is my blog – about the puzzles I do and my opinions about them. That is my opinion.

Even for Sunsout this was terrible quality. Thin, bendable pieces and a bad fit made it less than pleasurable to work with. I finished it because my mom bought it, we both adored the image, and I wanted to see it through for her. If those things weren’t attached to it I’m not sure I would have kept going with such a terrible quality puzzle.

The artwork was painted after the 9-11 attacks and inspired by a Bible verse from 2 Chronicles. It contains hidden images; of the twin towers with rising smoke, of evil, of someone praying, and more. They were hard to find in the reproduced image, and even harder to photograph so that I could show you here. You can see, even without a closeup, the nail imprint on the left hand showing that it is Jesus mending the flag. If you’d like to see all of the hidden images you can check out the artist’s website which shows each hidden image and its meaning. (As a side note, the box this puzzle came in had absolutely no information about this artwork, the hidden images, or the artist).

This was a thrift store purchase, so as happens sometimes my puzzle had a couple of issues – the obvious missing piece in the flag, and the fact that someone or something used a couple of the pieces as a chew toy. Missing pieces happen, it isn’t a big deal to me. The chewed up pieces annoy me though. If you’re donating puzzles and you know a couple of pieces are chewed up – just don’t donate. Again, this is just my opinion.

If My People 1

These two pieces look relatively alright here, but they were mangled and I had to work to get them back in the right shape and fitted together. You can see the creases in the pieces to show how bent they were. Annoying.

Great image, terrible quality – it seems like I say that about Sunsout puzzles quite a bit, doesn’t it? They’ve been added to my boycott list along with Ceaco, it just isn’t worth the frustration for me. I need to be strong and resist the temptation when I see a fabulous image from a company that doesn’t have good quality. Sounds simple, but it’s not always easy for me to resist a beautiful image, I must admit. I’m a bit of a puzzle junkie.

Shocked? I know, right?! 😇

Review: Fresh Picked Flowers

On May 8, 2020May 8, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews16 Comments

The beautiful, bright colors of this image made this puzzle so much fun; and the quality was so much better than the previous Sunsout puzzle that I assembled. Don’t you love it when a puzzle is so much better than you anticipated? I do!

The last Sunsout puzzle I assembled – Rainy Day Sketch – was purchased at the same time, from the same store. The difference in quality between the two was striking – and that is NOT a good thing. When you don’t know for sure what you’re going to get, it makes it difficult to trust that you’re getting your money’s worth. I’m not a fan of having to guess or gamble when it comes to the quality of the puzzles I buy.

Fresh Picked Flowers had very good quality, in fact I was surprised at how good. Having had a much different experience with the previous Sunsout puzzle, I was dreading this one a little bit thinking it would be equally as disappointing. Thank goodness that wasn’t the case! This puzzle had thick pieces with a very good variety of shapes, and a truly wonderful fit. As you can see the reproduction is bright and crisp, with clean lines – it was a joy to work with.

Fresh Picked Flowers 1

For some reason the dullest colored thing in the puzzle, this brown bird (I have no idea what species this is), was one of the things I really enjoyed putting together. For some reason I can’t really express this bird was lovely to assemble.

Fresh Picked Flowers 2

This bowl of cherries is bright and fun, and was really challenging too. When I look at it the first thing that comes to mind is Erma Bombeck; she was a humorist and columnist that I used to really enjoy reading when I was younger. I’m sure if I had one of her books here now it would still make me laugh. She had a book entitled “If Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What am I Doing in the Pits?” and it seems to pop into my brain whenever I see this.

The artwork by Jane Maday made for an excellent puzzling experience, and the quality of the puzzle itself was wonderful to work with. If only all Sunsout puzzles could be this good! If by some miracle you find this puzzle out there, it’s definitely recommended. I loved it. 💖

Details:

Title: Fresh Picked Flowers
Artist: Jane Maday
Brand: Sunsout
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Approx. 18 x 24 in. (46 x 61 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Very good
Cutting: Very good
Image: Excellent
Box: Average
Fit: Excellent
Puzzle Dust: Small amount
Piece cut: Random cut
Piece shapes: Very good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Very good, recommended

Fresh Picked Flowers In Progress

On April 21, 2020April 21, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling4 Comments

Fresh Picked Flowers IP — Fresh Picked Flowers by Jane Maday – Sunsout – 500 pieces

I have to say I’m having a much better time with this Sunsout puzzle than I did with the last one I assembled. This one has larger pieces, and the quality of the fit is so much better than the last one. Fit makes all the difference!

It’s been going together very quickly; I’m loving the bright colors, the beautiful image, and the random cut that keeps things interesting. It’s one of those puzzles that’s hard for me to walk away from – which means it should be done very soon. 🍒

That’s part of the reason that I usually only purchase Sunsout puzzles second-hand, the quality is hit or miss. Sometimes you get a great puzzle like this one, and sometimes you get quality like I had on Rainy Day Sketch. I don’t like to gamble on whether or not the puzzle I buy will be good quality, and for me Sunsout puzzles are a gamble.

This puzzle perfectly demonstrates that premise. I bought the two puzzles – Fresh Picked Flowers and Rainy Day Sketch – at the same time, at the same store; it turned out 50/50, I got one good one and one bad one. They were both 500 piece puzzles, why such a difference in the way they fit together? Get it together Sunsout!