So I went a little insane with power the other day; the thrift store we went to while mom and I were running errands had SOOOO many puzzles and I had extra money in my wallet – the combination was a bit much for me to handle!
I bought quite a few kids puzzles, mostly in multipacks, but the majority of the puzzles were 500 pieces or larger and I bought a lot of them. I couldn’t seem to stop myself from throwing puzzles into the cart. 🛒
There were 2 puzzles that didn’t feel right when we picked them up, so we opened them to be sure there were actually puzzles in there. To our wonderful surprise, some fantastic person had put two puzzles into each box – and the extra puzzles even had a small picture of the image included in the bag. Bonus!!
I think I’m set for a while, and won’t likely buy more anytime soon. Peaceful piecing ahead!
Grandpa’s Cabin by William S. Kreutz – MasterPieces – 500 pieces
I’ve had this puzzle at my house for a few months, and just wasn’t in the right mood for it when mom first found it. I finally decided to dive in, and had a great time. The artwork by William S. Kreutz made for a challenging and beautiful puzzle and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. Love it when that happens!
MasterPieces random cut usually keeps things interesting, but this one was quite devious! Many times I was convinced a piece was missing, and it turned out to be 2 oddly shaped pieces in a configuration I hadn’t even considered. It certainly kept me on my toes right until the very end. This isn’t one of those puzzles where the nearer you get to the end, the faster the pieces fly into place; and I really enjoyed the challenge of it. Maybe our work on the Mystery Box Puzzle is giving me a greater appreciation for fun of conquering a complicated puzzle. 😎
I love the image, especially the characters. Grandma’s face is so sweet looking! Although if it were my family my daughter would be the one who went fishing and my sons would have stayed inside at the cabin to play video games or watch a movie. 😉
There’s something about this puzzle that makes me very happy, but I’m not sure how to articulate it. I had a wonderful time with the assembly, and just looking at the pictures brings a smile to my face.
Yesterday was another LONG trip to my pain management doctor over 4 hours from home; but I decided to try and make it a little less painful by finding myself some puzzles – and find some I did!
I got all 27 of these puzzles for $25 from a fantastic lady I found on Facebook Marketplace. (Thanks Jan! ❤) I don’t use Facebook, but my husband has an account that I use to look at puzzle pages, etc. One day when I was bored and looking around I found the marketplace and obviously searched for jigsaw puzzles for sale in my area. I didn’t see many bargains, or even puzzles that I wanted anywhere near my house, but I did find this lot almost 100 miles from home. It didn’t seem very cost effective to go that far for them, but luckily when I had to make another appointment with the doctor and knew I’d be within 10 miles or so of these puzzles I was VERY excited!
So here’s what I got:
Twelve 300 piece
Eight 500 piece
One 550 piece
Two 750 piece
Four 1000 piece
Great brands too! I’m so very happy with my purchase, even though 3 of the puzzles I’ve done before. No worries at all, even with those 3 taken out of the mix I only spent $1.04 per puzzle. 🙂 There’s another image that I have assembled before, but with a different piece count and by a different brand – so I’m definitely going to be doing that one again.
Finding these puzzles made a terrible day in the car and at the doctor’s office a whole lot less horrible – because I was so happy to find such great puzzles at such a great price!
These ought to keep me busy for a little while, right? ☺
Introducing Frenchy! by Robin Preiss Glasser – Briarpatch – 100 pieces
A cute little kids puzzle, with the added fun of glitter! I love the Fancy Nancy images, they’re adorable, and remind me of myself. I’m all about being who you are, especially if you don’t fit in – who wants to be just like everyone else? Not me! 🙂
This is the fourth Briarpatch puzzle that I’ve assembled, and they’ve all had differing levels of quality; it makes me wonder why that is. This puzzle had thick enough pieces, but the chipboard used wasn’t very sturdy at all, and the way the pieces fit together was……odd. It wasn’t too tight, it wasn’t spongy, it simply felt very weird. I’m not sure I can properly explain it; you could plainly see that the piece was in the correct place, but it didn’t feel as though it was. Not a good fit, bent and flimsy pieces, and the puzzle didn’t lay flat.
Questionable quality aside though, Fancy Nancy is adorable!
Pennant Race by David Spindel – TDC Puzzles – 1000 pieces
This was quite the interesting puzzle, it’s a TDC Puzzle series called “The Edge”. The box says it’s a jigsaw puzzle with only edge pieces. Every single piece has a straight (or nearly straight) edge, so starting in the normal way isn’t really an option.
Surprisingly I didn’t find it all that difficult to assemble. The bright colors and many different designs made for an entertaining, but not too challenging puzzle. The pieces were a good thickness and fit together really well; I found the quality to be quite good. I was surprised by the fact that the when complete the entire puzzle could be lifted without any of the pieces coming apart. Usually when there are pieces with straight edges that just butt up against each other if you lift or try to move the puzzle it will fall apart. This was designed so that everything connects beautifully – I was impressed!
There were so many words in this puzzle, I had the best time with it! Baseball isn’t really my thing, but collages, bright colors, and having lots of words is definitely right up my alley, or should I say “right up my baseline”?
Only two little buttons for my Detroit Tigers? SHAME! We may not have won the World Series as many times as some other teams, but come on! We couldn’t even have one little pennant shown? 😕 (I don’t really care that much, it’s baseball LOL) The image reproduction was very crisp and clear – some of the pennants had rosters on them, and you can read every name.
If you come across one of these “The Edge” puzzles, consider giving it a try. I enjoyed it very much, and honestly didn’t find it that much more difficult than the average jigsaw – and it was great fun. Batter up! ⚾
