Tag: Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles

Merlin

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

Merlin by Phil Lewis – Liberty – 103 pieces

This adorable puzzle is a “Little Liberty”, made for kids. The pieces were much bigger than the usual ones from this company, and the image is an easy one for kids to work on. Although I am a “grown up” this puzzle was still completely entertaining for me – just a big kid at heart I guess.

The image is by one of my favorite artists that Liberty uses, Phil Lewis, he’s a local artist in Boulder, Colorado – where Liberty Puzzles are located. His artwork makes for gorgeous puzzles; he made the image on one of my favorite puzzles I’ve ever assembled, Sugar Magnolia. I love his illustration here of a dreaming doggy with the clouds above showing what he’s dreaming about; you can see a rabbit being chased and a tennis ball, so cute!

Almost 25 percent of the pieces were whimsies, Liberty has the highest percentage of whimsy pieces per puzzle that I’ve ever worked with (from a contemporary company). They’re all appropriate to the image and easy to recognize, which is also excellent in a puzzle designed for children.

After I pulled all the whimsies out I commented to my husband that they all made sense to me in relation to the image, except for one – the standing woman. (I was working on this one in bed, hubby was right next to me while we binged a favorite show) Neither one of us could figure it out, hubby said perhaps she was holding a treat in her left hand that she might be giving to one of the dogs. We decided to wait and see what it looked like from the back once it was completed; sometimes in Liberty puzzles there are tableaus using more than one whimsy in the finished image. Any guesses for what it turned out to be? Hubby and I were both wrong…

At the top near the middle you can see where the lady fits in – she’s walking her poodle! I love how the designer fit in a straight line between pieces as the leash (the only straight line in the whole puzzle). There are a few little scenes in this image, all things Merlin may be dreaming about; barking at a cat, chasing a rabbit, playing with kids, etc.

It went together quickly, but it was a fantastically made puzzle with beautiful artwork by Phil Lewis. I adored it. 💖

King Lion

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

King Lion by Marjorie Sarnat – Wentworth – 140 pieces

Holy crackers is this puzzle BEAUTIFUL! Every time I was working on it in bed my hubby commented about how striking it was, how the colors were so gorgeous – every time I took it out to add some pieces. Either he was just trying to keep my spirits up or he really thought those things; I think he really liked the image.

This was one that took loads more time than anticipated. The box image wasn’t used as a reference and with all the colors and patterns it took more brain power than your average cottage scene, landscape, or photographic image. But that was a plus in my book. Even if I was only able to put in a few pieces at a time I enjoyed searching for just the right one and hearing that satisfying “plunk” as it dropped into place.

Love all the whimsies, they completely fit in with the theme of the puzzle – and the details are amazing. Excellent puzzle all around, so much so that I’m looking forward to completing it again. 🦁

Chaos on the Board!

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzling5 Comments

1960s Flower Power by Andrew Farley – Wentworth – 250 pieces

Since getting up at 2 am I have finished and taken pics of the previous puzzle and written up the post for publication at a later date, updated the June completed puzzles page, updated the sidebar on the homepage, and decided which puzzle was up next. My decision was mostly based on how I wanted to complete the puzzle…

I honestly felt the need to dump a puzzle out on my board and just start working on it – no sorting, no trays, no order at all – apparently chaos is what my brain is yearning for this morning. Please don’t ask me why, I can’t even explain it to myself. 🤷‍♀️

The puzzle that I chose is a relatively chaotic image as well, a collage called 1960s Flower Power; ugly fabrics, tie-dye shirts, flowers, buttons, and psychedelic patterns everywhere. It’s puzzle anarchy!

The only slight bit of sorting that happened was to put all the whimsy pieces in one place so that I could take a picture for today’s post; other than that it will remain puzzle pandemonium on the board until I can bring order to the image and make a pretty picture for you all to see.

I hope y’all have as much fun with puzzles today as I plan to – happy puzzling my friends! 💟

Reservoir of Succulents

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

Reservoir of Succulents – Wentworth – 40 pieces

This was much more difficult than it looks, to be honest I was a little intimidated when I poured out those 40 pieces. They all looked so similar and like they knew I wasn’t up to the task. Oh dear, perhaps I’m a little sleepy this morning. 😴

I had to get one more puzzle in the morning before I went off to the guillotine (oral surgery), so this one was it.

Great whimsies – Wentworth doesn’t always have the whimsy pieces match the image, but they got it perfectly right with this one. I couldn’t tell you any of the names of these succulents (other than the general term cacti), but I do know that they are succulents. 😎

100 Aussie Icons

On By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles4 Comments

100 Aussie Icons by Jim Tsinganos – Mr. Bob Puzzles – 40 pieces

While getting posts ready for when I’d be out of commission I realized I needed a few more completed puzzles, so I took this one off the shelf and put it together quickly – while I was finishing a cup of coffee. Truly a one coffee puzzle!

I put together this same image for a review over 3.5 years ago (as a much larger 515 piece puzzle), you can see it here if you’re interested. I remember having to ask Mr. Bob who all the icons were, being an uninformed American I had absolutely no clue. It’s a great image by Jim Tsinganos, and really fun to put together – whether it’s over 500 pieces or only 40.

These are the whimsy pieces. For my friend Kazza and any Aussie readers out there I made sure to put the country the right way up this time. My apologies for getting it wrong previously. I didn’t even think about it, just turned all the pieces over so you could see the extra lines in the figures and didn’t for one moment think about making sure it was right side up! So sorry guys, please forgive an aging Yank – it won’t happen again.