Thoughts of an introverted bookworm and avid jigsaw puzzler
Storin’ Up is a 300 piece puzzle from Buffalo Games, and the artist is Charles Wysocki. I needed a quick one the other day, so I grabbed this one off my shelf.
As always, I enjoyed doing the buildings and the signs. But how cute are all those buggies! I especially loved those.
Little House on the Prairie Map is a 500 piece puzzle from Pippi Post, and the artist is Alexa Zurcher.
I am a huge Little House fan, so I couldn’t resist this charming map puzzle with illustrations of notable places from the books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I especially love the quotes around the border!
I love the quality of this brand. The pieces almost look like plastic, but they are actually a chipboard with a white backing. The only flaw was on the enclosed poster; it had two black boxes covering some of the image. I was able to use the image on the front of the box, however, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Mama’s Colorful Quilts is a 500 piece puzzle from Cardinal. I was unable to track down an artist.
This is such a fun, colorful image! I got this one from the thrift store. Quality was decent, and it did have nice large pieces which would be good for people who have trouble with small puzzle pieces.
I especially like the orange sky and the rounded appearance of the hills in the background. And of course, the quilts and the buildings were great fun!
Stay Cozy is a 1000-piece puzzle from New York Puzzle Company, and the artist is Lore Pemberton. One of my favorite things to do is to get cozy in bed with a good book, so this charming image really drew me in. This was my first experience with New York Puzzle Company. I have bought a couple, so I figured it would be a good idea to try one out to see how I liked it.
The puzzle is very high quality, with a nice matte finish to the pieces. It is a random cut puzzle, which definitely makes it harder than other puzzles. Random cut is not my preference because of how difficult it can be, but it does increase the satisfaction level when I finish, so it’s not always a bad thing!
Midnight in Rome is a 1000-piece puzzle from KI Puzzles. It is part of the Cities at Midnight line, and the artist is Madalina Tantareanu. My son actually got this for me for Mother’s Day earlier this year. He has access to my Amazon wish list, so he usually picks something from there when he wants to get me something. It’s nice because I get to enjoy being surprised without worrying that I won’t like the present. 😊
The quality of KI Puzzles is pretty good, in my opinion. They are a good thickness and finish, and they fit together well. The image is challenging without being frustrating. I did have to sort by shape but only at the end, mainly for the sky.
I really enjoyed doing this puzzle. I generally like to start with the border, and I was nervous about this one because the edges are white, but there was enough color on the edge pieces that I was able to put it together. This artwork is so interesting because the buildings in the foreground have a different look than the ones in the background.
I have done two from this series and have one more on my shelf to do. There are three more that I have on my Amazon wishlist, so hopefully one day I will have them all.
Whimsical Village is a 500-piece puzzle from Concord, and the artist is Bukhavets Mikhail. I saw this online and really liked the image, so I tracked it down on ebay and purchased a copy.
Now that I have completed it, I do have to say that Concord isn’t the best brand. The quality was just okay, but I still enjoyed it because I like the illustration.
Toy Stamps is a 1000 piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Barbara Behr. I picked this up at 2nd & Charles when I visited their new location to check it out. This one stood out to me as being fun and whimsical.
It was a lot of fun to put together. I enjoy collages, especially stamps, and the subject matter of this one was especially appealing. I stayed up way too late so I could finish it in one sitting. I had to sort by shape when I was about 75% done, so it was a good challenge.
London Cafe is a 1000-piece puzzle from Pieces & Peace, and the artist is Miranda Sofroniou. This was my first experience with the Pieces & Peace brand, and I absolutely loved it! I was so happy to open the box and see grid cut pieces, which are my favorite, and the pieces had a great feel and fit.
The image was amazing as well. It was challenging but not frustrating, if you know what I mean. I definitely want to do more from this brand!
P.S. One of my friends on Facebook asked what grid cut was, and this is what I told him.
It means the pieces are cut in rows rather than random shapes and they have an assortment of in and outs. Ribbon cut is when the pieces are in rows but all of them have two ins and two outs. Ribbon cut puzzles are more likely to have false fits, where a piece seems to fit somewhere that it doesn’t actually go. With grid cut you can sort by shape (meaning the different arrangement of prongs) if you get stuck and then look for the shape you need to make it easier to find the piece you need. I did that for the floor in this puzzle.
I redid two more puzzles for a challenge I am doing in a Facebook group I belong to. These were the last two clues for the event, so this one is done now.
Clue #9 was an umbrella, so I redid Town Park, which is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco. It was illustrated by Olivia Gibbs and features patio umbrellas above the tables outside one of the shops.
Clue #10 was bathtub. For that one, I redid The Alchemist’s Home, which is a 1000-piece puzzle from eeBoo. The artist is Vasilisa Romanenko. Ironically, I had done a different puzzle with a house cross section that included a bathtub just before the ten-week challenge and had thought about holding onto it just in case, but then I decided to take it apart.
I really enjoyed this puzzle challenge and am looking forward to the next one!
Mr. Swallowbark is a 300-piece puzzle from Buffalo Games, and the artist is Charles Wysocki. Between the thrift store one weekend and a puzzle swap the next, I ended up with two copies of this puzzle – oops!
This was so much fun to put together. I love the red barn, and I am especially fond of the row of brooms hanging on display.
In So Many Words 