Review: Rainy Day Sketch

On April 10, 2020April 10, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Puzzle reviews11 Comments

I was quite disappointed in the quality of this puzzle, particularly the fit. Even though it’s adorably cute, it wasn’t enough to make up for pieces that seem to fit where they do not belong and a mushy feel that doesn’t let you know whether or not you’ve got the right piece. The image is great, the rest of this puzzle – not so much.

Sunsout is one of those companies whose puzzles can range from excellent to poor quality; you never seem to know what you’re going to get. Because of that I normally do NOT purchase this brand retail, but I admit to buying this and one other Sunsout puzzle last month in an attempt to stock up a bit before….well, you know.

I’ve done several puzzles with artwork by Tricia Reilly-Matthews, and they’re always sweet and cute, she captures the innocence of childhood and it makes for beautiful puzzles – that must be why I caved and bought the two puzzles. If it weren’t for the quality, it would have been quite an entertaining assembly. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, image-wise, but the challenge kept me on my toes.

The way jigsaw puzzle pieces fit together is one of the most important aspects of quality, and when it is lacking it makes for an assembly experience that is less than optimal. It was an extremely frustrating assembly that might otherwise have been entertaining. Even with chipboard that was a good thickness, a good variety of piece shapes and lovely image reproduction, the poor fit negated most of the pluses and I am not recommending this puzzle.

Usually what I tell myself is that it won’t happen again. That the next time I’m in a store near the puzzles I will remember my bad experience with this brand and will not buy any of their puzzles. The problem is that the brand isn’t consistent with it’s quality and I always want to believe that the puzzle I want to buy is going to be one of the good ones; sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn’t. Did I learn my lesson this time? Only time will tell.

Details:

Title: Rainy Day Sketch
Artist: Tricia Reilly-Matthews
Brand: Sunsout
Piece count: 500 pieces
Size: Approx. 19 x 19 in. (48 x 48 cm)
Purchased: New

Quality:

Board: Good
Cutting: Good/Fair
Image: Very good
Box: Average
Fit: Poor
Puzzle Dust: Large amount
Piece cut: Grid cut – offset
Piece shapes: Good variety
Finish: Slightly shiny finish, lays flat

Overall Rating: Fair/Poor, not recommended

*These days finding any jigsaw puzzle in stores or online is almost a miracle, so if you find this puzzle out there you have to take my recommendation with a grain of salt. All reviews are only opinions; my puzzle and my opinion of it might differ from yours. So if you come across this one and you’re out of puzzles….you do what’s best for you.

Rainy Day Sketch In Progress

On March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles8 Comments

Rainy Day Sketch IP — Rainy Day Sketch by Tricia Reilly-Matthews – Sunsout – 500 pieces

I just started working on this puzzle early this morning – up at 4 am – yay. I finished my Stacey & Ruth puzzle yesterday, and picked this one out, but didn’t touch it at all until this morning.

Picking out puzzles is sometimes a bit crazy for me. I seem to forget the previous negative experiences I’ve had with a certain brand unless they were over the top terrible, and I want to think that this next time is going to be amazing (a bit like having kids 😉 ). Sunsout has provided me with some amazing puzzling experiences, and some that weren’t so great. When I see an image I really like from a certain brand it overrides the negative and I only seem to remember the good ones.

I found two really adorable Sunsout puzzles on my last shopping trip before we were all told to stay home and socially isolate ourselves. My desire for a few new puzzles and the cute images on the boxes completely wiped out most of the negative Sunsout experiences I’ve had previously. Needless to say, I bought two new puzzles from this brand; now that I’ve started working with this one I remember why this isn’t a brand I usually purchase. 😐

The fit isn’t great, and even though I’m not even a third of the way through this puzzle there have been many, many pieces that seem to fit where they do not belong, and when they do fit it feels “mushy”. You can’t really be certain you’ve got it right unless or until it connects to other pieces around it. I. Am. Not. A. Fan. Of. This.

Oh well. Lesson learned. For now.

Lady in the Meadow

On February 19, 2020February 19, 2020 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles6 Comments

I found this puzzle at mom’s house, and I don’t know what in the world I was thinking when the decision was made to assemble it – it’s so difficult! It’s got all the things I don’t care for in a puzzle image, why in the world did I start assembling it? Honestly, I have no idea, other than because mom loved the image so much. I think I did it for her. 💗

I put this on my second, larger board and only worked on it a little bit at a time, I didn’t want to become too frustrated with the dark, difficult image. It took me several weeks to complete, but I think that was the best way to assemble it; when I found myself getting annoyed with the difficulty that was my cue to walk away and work on something a bit less demanding.

This is my second puzzle with an image from this artist, and although I love her style and artwork, I much prefer her lighter and more colorful images. This one is so dark!

Meadow 1

The double border was quite difficult, and I’m not sure why there were the 2 border lines down the center – perhaps we’re viewing this scene through a window? In a cave? It’s odd, but who knows what the artist was thinking. All I know is that it made an already dark and difficult image even more of a challenge.

Meadow 2

Not only is this a pretty face, but you can also see that the quality wasn’t great; there is quite a bit of image lift on the tabs and the puzzle did not lay flat. The image lift is something you get used to when you buy secondhand puzzles, many times disassembling causes image lift; it does interfere with the enjoyment I get from running my hands over the completed puzzle though. With all the tabs sticking up I worry that I’ll tear part of the image off, so there was no satisfying puzzle massage with this one. 😦

You can also see that it’s cut like an Educa puzzle, all the pieces are ballerinas except for the humpback/swayback pieces. This is odd for a Sunsout puzzle, I’ve worked many of them and have never seen this piece shape before. The fit was this puzzle’s best quality – it was exceptional – not too tight (which some Sunsout puzzles can be) and not too loose; it was almost perfect, and you could lift the entire puzzle without any pieces coming off at all.

It’s a beautiful, if odd, image and I’m extremely proud of myself for finishing it! When I come across more interesting and crazy difficult puzzles at mom’s house I think they’ll go right into the donate box – I’ve learned my lesson! 😉

Trick or Treat 2

On October 30, 2019October 30, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles4 Comments

I found this puzzle at mom’s, it’s a thrift store find and I really like the image! The box was pretty beat up, and I was worried that it would be missing pieces, but luckily they were all present and accounted for. I love how colorful it is, and it was a lot more fun to assemble than I expected.

The random cut was pretty fun to work with, but the fit was mushy. You could put two pieces together and they felt and looked as though they fit, but they absolutely did not. With this kind of fit you can’t rely on feel, you have to pay close attention and sometimes I even had to turn the pieces over to be certain. That’s what I call a mushy fit, and I am most definitely NOT a fan.

Mushy fit aside though, it was still pretty entertaining for my first holiday puzzle of the month.

Tomorrow is the big day – I love Halloween!

👻Boo!👻

Just Ducky

On August 18, 2019 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles9 Comments

This cutie was more fun than I thought it would be. I don’t always enjoy Sunsout puzzles, as some of them have such a tight fit, it’s off-putting for me. But the fit on this one was quite good and just the right amount of hold.

I actually put off assembling it for quite a while, because I thought the background would be awful to get through. I had a great time with the assembly though, and the background didn’t take nearly as much time as I feared it would.

I’m still surprised by puzzles; ones I think will be great fun turn out to be boring or tedious, and ones that I dread assembling turn out to be charming and much more pleasant than anticipated. You’d think after the hundreds and hundreds of puzzles I’ve assembled that I’d be a better judge of what I will enjoy. Nope. Still as clueless as ever.

But I’m cute, with a great sense of humor – so I’m still a catch! ☺