Thoughts of an introverted bookworm and avid jigsaw puzzler
Cat in a Bird’s Nest is a 1000-piece puzzle from Cross & Glory. This is my third puzzle from them, and it was a lot of fun. It looked like it would be hard because of all the blue and white pieces, but it was actually pretty easy. Most of the pieces had a pattern which made it easy to see where they went.
I’m still a bit ambivalent about the fact that they use AI to generate their images. I usually search to see if I can find similar artwork on a traditional brand before buying one of theirs.
Novel Avenue is a 2000-piece puzzle from Ravensburger, and the artist is Demelsa Haughton. This was my first puzzle larger than 1000 pieces. It was intimidating due to the larger piece count, but once I got into it, it was definitely doable.
The first night I sorted the pieces and worked on a couple of small sections. The following day my friend Suzanne came over and we worked on it for a few hours. She worked on the border (that’s her favorite part!) and I worked on some more of the books.
I worked on it two more days after that and then it was done! I am so proud of myself for finishing it. It is a lovely image and was a true joy to put together.
I like it so much I have decided to frame it and hang it above my couch in my living room. Michael and I just have to figure out how to flip it over so I can tape the back.
Farm Life is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Olivia Gibbs. I have done several of hers now and I really enjoy them. The art is so charming, and the puzzles are a lot of fun.
Jane Austen’s Book Club is a 1000-piece puzzle from eeboo. I got it from Ollie’s (a local bargain store) for only $4.99! They had a pretty good selection of puzzles and even had two that I had already purchased. Too bad I hadn’t gone there first as they would have been cheaper.
This was a bit harder of a puzzle due to the amount of detail in it. I didn’t find it frustrating at all; I was able to keep working through it section by section. I like the distinct qualities of eeboo puzzles, with the glossy pieces that are small but not too small and the square shape of the finished puzzle.
I would have loved to be a part of this book club, as it appears to include Jane herself as a member. It would have been fascinating to talk about books with her!
Sea Town Harbor is a 300-piece puzzle from Ceaco, and the artist is Olivia Gibbs. I really enjoy her artwork; I find it so charming, and this one was no exception. The puzzle was very easy to solve, given the large piece sizes.
I especially liked the houses and the boats; those are some of my favorite elements to put together. And the flowers, water, and sky were no problem because there are so few pieces.
Northern Lights is a 500-piece puzzle from Ravensburger, and the artist is Nancy Wernersbach. It is one of their larger format puzzles, so the pieces and the finished size are both quite large.
I really enjoyed this puzzle. It was relaxing to put together. The sky is so beautiful with the Northern Lights, and the cabin deck scene looks so cozy.
The Brunette is a 1000-piece puzzle from Magnolia, and the artist is Romi Lerda. This is another new brand for me. I have heard a lot of good things about Magnolia, and I was very pleased with the quality of this puzzle.
The image is captivating and I truly enjoyed putting it together. I loved all the different blocks of difference colors/textures. The dark blue was the hardest, which reminded me of Rainy Day Blessings, but it wasn’t as hard as that one because the area was smaller and there was more of a pattern.
The box was really nice. It didn’t come with a poster, but it did have a small packet of glue powder, which you could mix with water to make puzzle glue. Such a clever idea!
Chicago is a 500-piece puzzle from Dowdle. This was my first Dowdle puzzle and it was great! The packaging was so nice, and it came with a really good poster and a resealable bag to put your pieces in after finishing the puzzle.
The image was crisp and the pieces were good quality. I didn’t have any false fits and the puzzle was a nice level of difficulty. Definitely recommend!
I also loved this image of Chicago. I am originally from Illinois and I lived in the Chicago area for almost 4 years back in the 1990s. This picture reminded me of a lot of the places we would visit in the city.
Ice Cream Truck is a 500-piece puzzle from Ceaco. It is part of their Food Truck series.
This is my second time doing this puzzle, but this is actually my second copy of the puzzle. I had done the puzzle several months ago and found that the quality wasn’t as good as the other food truck puzzles I had done. I thought that I wouldn’t enjoy doing it again, so I donated it to a local puzzle box. Later, I decided I *would* like to own the whole series, so I purchase it again, hoping the quality would be better, and it was.
Rainy Day Blessings is a 1000-piece puzzle from Theo’s Puzzles that was designed by someone I discovered on TikTok. She is also on Instagram and her handle both places is mjpuzzles25.
I love the image. I think it is such a charming scene, and the colors are so nice. The puzzle quality was good overall, but I did find the dark blue sections incredibly difficult. It took several days of painstakingly trying each piece and sometimes having to remove pieces that were in the wrong spot.
I am glad I persevered because it felt so good to finish this one. A year ago I would have probably given up.
In So Many Words 