Defence Against the Dark Arts – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 500 pieces
I don’t actually have any of this puzzle put together at all, but I did dump all the pieces out onto the puzzle board and have pulled out some whimsies (see above). It’s another puzzle for this Halloween season because when it’s done it’ll be posted in the beginning of October; that’s how far ahead in posts I am at the moment.
I hope to actually get started on this one today, and I hope it’s as much fun as it looks. This is one of my 70% off puzzles I bought a little bit ago. If a Harry Potter puzzle isn’t perfect for Halloween, I don’t know what is. 🎃👻🦇
The title of the puzzle is annoying my computer, because it doesn’t think defence should be spelled with a “c” instead of an “s”; there’s a wavy red line underneath every one letting me know it thinks I ought to change it. Guess what, computer? Not everyone spells everything the same way – deal with it!
So far I’m loving the whimsies, there’s some great ones in there, and probably more to find. I’m looking forward to finding them all and getting to work on this beautiful puzzle.
Happy puzzling today my friends!
**I literally just noticed that Crookshanks the cat is almost completely upside down, it looks like they’re hanging on to the ceiling. Oops. Sorry Crookshanks!**
The Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh – Trefl – 200 pieces
Oh man was I super excited to find a wooden puzzle at the thrift store – it’s never happened to me before and even better than just finding it – it was new, unopened! I couldn’t believe my luck and was so excited to assemble it. I had a puzzle on my board and was looking forward to finishing it quickly so I could get to work on this one. Sigh. As you can see, it’s more than just missing a few pieces; by my count it is missing 42 pieces. ☹
Both Penny and hubby brought up that it might just look like it hadn’t been opened, someone could have opened and assembled it and then did some fancy stuff to make it look like new when it was donated. It’s a possibility, but I don’t think that’s what happened. They could have made the outside look unopened, but the puzzle itself is in a paper bag sealed with a Trefl sticker showing the image on the puzzle and what looks like a product number. That bag was also unopened, the sticker had never been removed or peeled away from the paper. I believe it came from the factory this way, but I cannot say for sure. Even though this is the first Trefl puzzle I have ever done, I can’t with certainty say whether the missing pieces are the fault of the company so I can’t speak about their quality control without knowing whose fault this was.
What makes this even more upsetting for me was not only are so many pieces missing, it is a double-sided puzzle! Have you ever heard of a double-sided wooden puzzle? I hadn’t. When I started turning pieces over I was shocked that there’s an image on the back, a black line drawing of sunflowers. If this had been a complete puzzle it would have made me so happy to have found it for only $4.99. A shaped wooden puzzle, inside a rectangular puzzle, with another image on the back – how cool is that? Now it’s basically just an extra box to put in the recycling.
It was so interesting to me that this wasn’t just a rectangular puzzle of the artwork, but the vase of sunflowers itself could be done by itself as a shaped puzzle. This puzzle is just so different from every other wooden puzzle I’ve ever done, it would have been a definite keeper had it been complete.
Other than the fact that 20% of this puzzle was missing, it was relatively good quality. The pieces were about the same thickness as a Wentworth with a matte finish, the fit was quite loose but not too much so, the pieces of the frame were regularly shaped and the inner part of the puzzle had more irregular shapes – it should have five whimsies, but they were absent. You can see from their missing shapes that they were a chair, a bed, a leaf, a sunflower, and a vase of sunflowers.
This puzzle was quite a disappointment, but here’s how I’m choosing to look at it – I didn’t pay full price and I did get about two hours of quality puzzle time out of it even if it was incomplete. My job was to put together all the pieces until none were left, I completed my mission. Where else can you get two hours of entertainment that’s also good for your health for only five dollars? And, as a bonus, I saved someone else from spending their hard-earned money on a puzzle with so many missing pieces. Yay me!
Disappointing, but still I had a good time putting together the pieces that were there. That’s how I’m choosing to look at it. Onward to the next puzzle!
Sailing to the Tunes by Soma Folk Art – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 40 pieces
This gorgeous image was entertaining to put together, but I was wishing I had gotten this one in a larger piece count; the colors were beautiful, it’s just stunning – but it was over too quickly! I haven’t worked a Soma Folk Art image before and after looking them up I would love to do more. The artwork is so bright, colorful, and not what we usually see for jigsaw puzzle images. Love it!
You all know how I feel about Wentworth; I’ve done well over a hundred of their puzzles – small, big, shaped, easy, difficult, ones with tessellating pieces, etc. If you want to hear about their quality, please look up any of my other posts about a Wentworth puzzle because honestly after spending four days in the hospital with my cranky, elderly father I’m too exhausted to type up too much about this puzzle right now. Apologies.
This speckled counter was the only place available to work any puzzles in dad’s room, and it doesn’t make the best backdrop for showing these whimsy pieces. Apologies again. Loved these whimsies. Namaste. 🙏
*No, my dad isn’t back in the hospital. I wrote this up when I assembled the puzzle, back in June.*
Living In Bird World by Lisa Houck – Liberty Puzzles – 498 Pieces
This artwork is beautiful and so different, it made for excellent puzzling; I had a great time with this one and found myself completely absorbed in the assembly, which is exactly what I needed at the time. Beautiful artwork on an excellent quality puzzle and I even got to spend a little bit of time with my wonderful daughter who puzzled with me for half an hour or so, it was lovely. 💕
Liberty Puzzles are my favorite modern wooden puzzle company, their puzzles have beautiful artwork, and their pieces are complex and designed by some of the best in the business. Liberty puzzles have more whimsies than most other companies, and they are designed to go along with the artwork. I’ve never been disappointed by one of their puzzles, or their customer service. When I came back to the puzzle board after my two year hiatus I went a little crazy and ordered four of their large puzzles, and this beauty is one of them.
Look at these whimsies, so many birds! And because this is Bird World, there are no people at all, just birds, insects, and foliage. It made for such an entertaining assembly.
I hope you guys like these pictures of the back of wooden puzzles, because this one was a bear.🐻 When I was flipping it over I accidentally hit the light above the puzzle board and bleeped it all up! It probably took about five minutes or more to put everything back where it belonged. It made me think though, wouldn’t it be a fun exercise to assemble one of these puzzles upside down? It probably wouldn’t be as difficult as it may seem, but the only way to know is to try, right?
The symmetrical section in the middle is where I started with the assembly, the pieces were obviously easy to find. Want to know why those shapes are in this bird puzzle? Well, they all fit together to make an interesting little bird house!
I saw the image on the Liberty website, on the page for this puzzle, so of course I had to try it for myself. It took a bit of doing, and figuring out how to get the pieces connected without breaking them took me several tries and several minutes, but eventually I got there. It’s adorable! The top looks a little wonky, but I did my best. 🕊🏠
The Golden Trio – Wentworth Wooden Puzzles – 225 pieces
I am absolutely LOVING this puzzle! It’s one of the nine (yes, nine) I purchased when I found out that Wentworth was having a sale and that all Harry Potter puzzles were 70% off. This gorgeous 225 piece puzzle was mine for less than $19! If you’re a teeny bit jealous, don’t be; as of today (July 2, 2026) the sale is still going on.😁
Normally this puzzle would have been finished yesterday, but I spent almost all day with my daughter; we went and got our hair done, she went with me to a doctor’s appointment, went to the bookstore (yes, I bought a few puzzles) and then we just spent time doing nothing together at my house. I probably only put 10 pieces into this puzzle yesterday, but it doesn’t matter one bit cause I got to spend the day with my beautiful baby girl. 💖
The cut on this puzzle seems trickier than I remember Wentworth puzzles being, and there have been several times where I absolutely could not find the right piece because I thought I knew what the shape would be – it turned out to be very wrong. It’s been so much fun! I love a good challenge, and the cut is giving me a run for my money, and I haven’t even started with most of the flowers yet. Flowers are really hard for me most of the time, I’ll let you know how it goes with these flowers everywhere.
I’m looking forward to finishing this today and seeing the completed puzzle, it’s gonna be beautiful!
My Jigsaw Journal 