Tag: Susan Winget

Christmas Spirit

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles2 Comments

Christmas Spirit by Susan Winget – Ceaco – 577 pieces

This special edition Ceaco was quite a difficult puzzle to assemble, but I’m glad that I finally put it together. Mom bought this at the thrift store at least 5 years ago, and paid a whole 99 cents for it! I can’t say it was overly enjoyable, but it wasn’t too bad either.

Ceaco came out with a few puzzles backed in velvet many years ago, and this is the second one mom found at a thrift store. They’re interesting to work with…

Beautiful to look at isn’t it? Not so much fun to assemble on a fabric covered board though; the velvet grabs onto the fabric and sliding sections around is almost impossible. The irregular border meant that I didn’t start there, I started with the words in the middle. When you don’t start with the border all you can do is “guesstimate” where everything goes, and it’s never perfect; there’s always adjusting and wiggling pieces around to get things exactly where they belong. Once the pieces were laid down they didn’t want to let go of my beautiful fabric board; and because there are whimsy pieces in the puzzle, lifting a completed section to move it meant pieces falling out. Frustrating. Annoying. So, because the border wasn’t put together first, things had to be moved around to fit together properly – and the damn velvet made it so difficult!

The pieces are thicker than a regular Ceaco puzzle, and the velvet adds even more thickness. Otherwise the quality is only fair/good. Many of the pieces were bent and had image lifting off, the fit was very tight, and the finish is shiny. It’s a beautiful image, but working with this puzzle had me to ready to say NO MORE CHRISTMAS PUZZLES!

There were quite a few whimsy pieces as well as these letters, but so many of them were two pieces that weren’t easy to find on the initial sort – that means I didn’t take a picture of anything other than this.

I wish I’d enjoyed this more, but I just didn’t. 🤷‍♀️

If you find one at a thrift store, or somewhere out in the world – give it a try. Hopefully you’ll like it more than I did.

Christmas Spirit In Progress…

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling, Thrift Store Puzzles8 Comments

Christmas Spirit by Susan Winget – Ceaco – 577 pieces

Yesterday I got a text from my puzzle pal Penny, that said “Stop the presses! Stacey has a very Christmasy/Santie Claus puzzle on her board??? Am I in the Twilight Zone?” No ma’am, it isn’t the Twilight Zone and you’re not having a stroke, I am working on my Christmas puzzles right now!

I’ve got one going in the bathroom, and this one on my board; and there are a couple of them finished already too! (You can see them on the November page if you don’t believe me – but I really did do them 😎)

This puzzle is a special edition Ceaco puzzle with a red velvet backing and whimsy pieces. Mom got it at the thrift store (she was the thrift store ninja), and it still has the sticker on it – she paid 99 cents for it! Unfortunately even though I just got started it is obvious it won’t be complete…

This lovely piece was in the box. It has obviously been chewed up by a pet; the velvet backing is gone, and the front of the piece looks like this. Sigh. Maybe it’s just me, but I think I’d rather a person just tossed this piece in the trash and didn’t put it in the box to be donated. It would be better to get to the end and realize there’s a missing piece than to find this while you’re laying out pieces and know for sure this puzzle won’t be complete. That’s just my opinion of course, but that’s how I feel.

Anyway, I won’t get much work done on this today as I’m off to deliver a birthday cake to a friend and probably spend a little time visiting. When I get back I’ll most likely be wiped out and spend the rest of the day in bed. So, I’ve got an hour or so this morning to puzzle, and then I’m off.

Happy puzzling today my friends!

Over the River

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles11 Comments

Over the River
Over the River by Susan Winget – Ceaco – 500 pieces

Over the River is the companion puzzle to one I assembled in February of this year. They come in a book box with two compartments – each holds a puzzle with cork backing, both by the same artist. Like many of the “different” Ceaco puzzles it was very good quality.

🎶Over the River and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go!🎶

The first one I put together from this box was Simple Pleasures, and it seemed much easier to assemble than this puzzle (although my memory isn’t as reliable as it used to be 👵). There were so many places around the whimsies that didn’t connect at all, and it was a bit frustrating to constantly have to fix pieces that had moved. It can get quite tedious – but sometimes that’s how whimsies go.

With these puzzles it’s sometimes hard to find all the whimsy pieces before you begin; so these are some, but definitely not all of them…

Over the River whimsies

The scalloped edges aren’t as easy to assemble as you’d think, so I began with the words. It took way more brain power than I’d assumed!

Over the River 1

The inset scenes were lovely!

 

Even though it gave my gray cells a little bit of a workout, it was great fun. And you definitely can’t beat the price – 99 cents for two 500 piece puzzles with cork backing! I absolutely got more than a dollar’s worth of entertainment. ☺

 

Simple Pleasures

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles, Thrift Store Puzzles3 Comments

IMG_4255
Simple Pleasures by Susan Winget – Ceaco (Cork backed) – 500 pieces

Another very interesting puzzle from the thrift store. The box opens like a book, and inside are two compartments with one puzzle in each from the same artist – with cork backing! This one was really fun, and the other I’m saving for Christmas in July on the blog. 🎄

Ceaco puzzles aren’t great quality in my opinion, but it seems they put a little more effort into their unusual puzzles. The “different” puzzles I’ve worked have been much better quality than their regular ones. This one was very good quality, the pieces are thick (with a cork backing they have to be a little thicker) and fit together very well.

This image was more complex than my previous few puzzles; I was trying to get myself back into the puzzle groove and was working easier images and piece counts. It took me a little longer than normal for a 500 piece puzzle, but I got it done! It’s a cute image that would look good framed in a country kitchen; there’s a rudimentary recipe for apple pie along the edge. 🍎

I’m not a big fan of Christmas puzzles, but I’ll be assembling the second 500 piece puzzle in this box later on this year. I’m looking forward to it! If you can find any of these box sets of cork-backed puzzles I definitely recommend giving them a try.