Secret Garden (Biddlestone Manor)

On March 22, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This was just a quick break in the middle of working another puzzle, it was definitely something I needed. I’ve been having trouble being able to puzzle lately, and I needed to get a puzzle done quickly and feel some great wooden pieces too. Thank goodness I have a bunch of these Wentworth micro puzzles around for times like this. 🙂

Secret Garden is a pretty difficult image, it’s only 40 pieces but it took me almost 20 minutes to get it assembled! At least I’m hoping it was because the image was challenging and not because of my recent puzzle problems.

It was a fun challenge though, and I absolutely love the times when I’m puzzling and the rest of the world seems to fade away and all that’s left is the pieces and how they fit together. When the only thing that registers is the patterns and colors, that’s when assembling a puzzle is the most fun for me. Times ceases to exist and I can be shocked at how much of it I’ve lost. Jigsaw puzzles are the best!

The image isn’t one I would normally choose, but when there are only 40 pieces I’m a little braver and a little less picky. I don’t think I’ll ever do Starry Night in a larger piece count, but I didn’t hesitate to get it in the micro size. Whatever the image, Wentworth micro puzzles have a deceptively challenging cut and are great fun to put together. This was exactly what I needed!

Starry Night

On March 10, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This 40 piece puzzle is probably the only way I’ll assemble Starry Night. In 1000 pieces or more it will most likely be too frustrating for me; I’ll take what I can get. Look everyone! I assembled Starry Night by Van Gogh! 😎

This time it wasn’t me in the hospital, but I brought along a few of Wentworth’s micro puzzles when I went to visit. You don’t really need a helper when there are only 40 pieces but when you’re laid up with nothing to do but watch tv, assembling a small but fun puzzle with a friend is a much better idea!

The whimsies in this puzzle confused us for a bit; the one in the lower right looks like a baby bottle to me, but I’m sure it’s not. The upper right-hand whimsy had us stumped until I figured out that it was a spilled bottle of ink or paint. The others were easy enough to recognize – a tube of paint, a picture frame, and a palette with paintbrush. Beautiful!

As usual, the quality was exceptional. Thick wooden pieces that feel great in your hand and give a satisfying “plunk” as they fall into place. As heavenly as a starry night!

Art Nouveau Poster Collage

On February 25, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw PuzzlesLeave a comment

This is an amazingly beautiful collage that mom picked out for us. I thought it would be as difficult as the Santa Collage from Wentworth that we did, but it went together a little bit easier. The colors and artwork are absolutely lovely, and it was so much fun!

The smaller 500 piece Santa collage was quite a challenge, and we thought this one would be too. Don’t get me wrong, it was a challenge, but we were also surprised that it went together as quickly as it did. We enjoyed ourselves very much; we always do when working with wooden puzzles, they’re such great quality and so much fun to work with.

We always start by picking out all the whimsy pieces and seeing all the clever shapes. So many interesting shapes from all over the world – Christ the Redeemer, Sydney Opera House (I think), The Statue of Liberty, The Thinker, a can-can girl, and so many more…

Such lovely whimsies were a perfect compliment to such a lovely puzzle. The vintage art nouveau posters made an excellent collage that was a joy to assemble. The colors were wonderful to work with and mom and I loved placing every single piece!

If you haven’t worked a wooden puzzle, it takes a little getting used to. The pieces don’t fit together like your average cardboard puzzle, the fit is much looser and it takes some time to get the hang of it. I find it’s easier to work with wooden puzzles on my fabric covered board, the fabric makes it a little more difficult for the pieces to move too much. The loose fit of the pieces and the more obvious piece shapes showing in the finished image are the two major drawbacks of wooden puzzles that I’ve found. I don’t find them much of a problem at all actually, and as long as I could afford it I would never hesitate to get myself another wooden puzzle.

I always end my posts about wooden puzzles by telling my readers that if they are able to they should think about treating themselves to a wooden puzzle. I’ll end this one the same way, maybe take a few dollars from your tax refund this year (if you get one) to reward yourself with a beautiful wooden puzzle!

Flower Still Life

On February 5, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles7 Comments

This was a very dark, very challenging wooden puzzle. I bought this for mom for Christmas last year and we finally got around to assembling it. Isn’t it gorgeous? She picked it out herself.

The background color was a little too dark for my taste, but it was still a fun puzzle to assemble, especially since mom and I worked it together. 🙂 They were pretty tricky not to include a picture on the box of the irregular edge, so we had to figure that out for ourselves. It was quite the brain teaser, but we older ladies still have our wits about us (most of the time) and we were able to get it done.

Artifact Puzzles are excellent quality with a wonderfully diverse catalog to choose from. They have many different puzzle designers who come up with amazingly intricate and complex piece cuts. I love that you’re able to see pictures of the cuts for each puzzle, so you have that information before you buy. The puzzles are made from plywood and are laser cut; they are beautifully made!

There were almost no whimsies but the cut was excellent and you can see the pieces formed a beautiful symmetrical pattern….

Mom and I really enjoyed this assembly; it was quite a challenge and we even said that it was “deviously cut” a couple of times. Still, it helps keep the brain cells firing and even if it takes more time than we’d planned on we enjoy the extra time spent together.

I’ve done several Wentworths and a couple of Artifact puzzles in the past couple of months, so I’m hoping to get my hands on a new Liberty puzzle soon. If I don’t, no worries – I can spend an afternoon re-assembling the Dr. Suess puzzle I bought myself last year. 🙂

The Thames at Westminster

On January 28, 2018 By Stacey at myjigsawjournalIn Jigsaw Puzzles2 Comments

I like this image very much and as usual this micro puzzle was a fun assembly. Looking at this picture now, when the puzzle has already been put away, makes me want to take it out again and check the castle whimsy pieces; I wonder if you can line them up and make a bigger castle. Hmmm. 🏰

I’ve been having such a hard time getting back to my puzzling routine that was interrupted by a weeks “vacation” away from home. Side effects from medications and other issues have made it extremely difficult for me to sit at my puzzle table and puzzle for any length of time. I think because of my limitations at the moment I’m extremely picky about what puzzles I want to do; I want easy puzzles, like collages, where I can pick a small group of pieces and assemble them and feel like I’ve accomplished something. I have well over 100 puzzles here at the house, and hundreds more over at moms to choose from but none of them interest me right now. It doesn’t make much sense to me that with so many puzzles available I still can’t find one I want to do.

I’m planning to buy a new chair for puzzling very soon in the hopes that it will be a little more comfortable to sit for more than a minute; which means perhaps soon I’ll be back to my regular puzzles. Yesterday I went on a quick puzzle run with mom and my daughter; I got a couple of cool collages (and a few others) and I’m hoping they will help me get my puzzle juju back soon! 🛍

This is the last of the hospital puzzles – hooray! There are still about 10-15 micro puzzles left I haven’t assembled, but I can pepper them in here and there; there’s no need to do them all at once.

It was such a blessing to me to have puzzles to do to break up the boredom and take my mind off of everything stressful going on. The micro puzzles are small enough to do all at once, which is nice because for some reason laying in bed all day is exhausting; the larger puzzles I assembled took a day or two, but it didn’t matter – I loved them all. Wentworth Wooden Puzzles helped save my sanity. Thanks Wentworth! 💕