I really like this painting, and it was nice to do as a puzzle, although not all that easy. I think they have added some new extra waves in order to fit the panorama format – all other images I’ve seen only have the large wave in the middle. This puzzle was a Christmas present.
Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai, Eurographics, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 22, 2025.
This was fun and easy! While this is a Schmidt puzzle, the same image is also available by Buffalo. For my puzzle challenge, this is the bonus challenge for March, which is the song Northern Lights (Revontulet in Finnish) by Anssi Kela, who is the first of this year’s artists that I’ve actually heard about. I still haven’t heard the song, though.
Campfire Romance Under the Stars by Lars Stewart, Schmidt, 1000 pieces. Completed on March 14, 2025.
I would have preferred more colourful doors, to be honest, like the bright green one in the bottom row, but even like this, it wasn’t really a difficult puzzle. The dark green and brown doors were last, I think, and after that there was still some brickwork to fill in. The quality was good and I had no false fits, as usual with the larger Bluebird puzzles.
Doors of USA by Dominic Davison, Bluebird Puzzle, 2000 pieces. Completed on March 7, 2025.
For my puzzle challenge, this is #7, North America.
Despite the enormous sky this puzzle was not hard at all. It’s an older Ravensburger, from 1982, and as usual, the cut is perfect. It’s so distinct that you often see a piece and know just by the shape where it belongs, the same way you can see a piece and think “oh, that’s the other half of that lamp”. Really enjoyable puzzle!
The Skaters by Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot, Ravensburger, 1500 pieces. Completed on February 9, 2025.
The puzzle challenge I’m doing has extra monthly challenges that are communicated as (Finnish) songs, and the song for February was “In the Winter” (“Talvella” in Finnish) by Fröbelin Palikat, who apparently make music for children. Anyway, I used this puzzle for the February challenge.
A Peliko moomin puzzle, as usual without a title, featuring Snufkin and Moomintroll fishing. Peliko puzzles are usually terrible quality, but this is a bit older and marginally better than the currently produced puzzles. I still had some false fits, but the quality of the paper used for the image layer was definitely better than now. I approached this as a bit of a chore, but ended up enjoying it much more than I expected to.
[Snufkin and Moomintroll], Peliko, 1000 pieces. Completed on February 2, 2025.
This turned out to be more difficult than I was expecting, but it still remained entertaining to the end. I love painted cakes in a puzzle image, somehow they’re even more satisfying than photographic images of actual cakes.
Yum! by Rosiland Solomon, Cobble Hill, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 30, 2024.
While I would happily eat everything in this image, I would probably start with this:
Chocolate and raspberries 😋
For the puzzle challenge, this is No. 6, delicacy.
No. 15 of the puzzle challenge is a minipuzzle (less than 100 pieces), and I only own one puzzle that fits the bill. I’ve done it once before, and it was still a lovely little puzzle. Took about ten minutes to put together.
BVB-Mini-Puzzle, 80 pieces. Completed on January 26, 2025.
Unfortunately, the year has not started well for Borussia Dortmund, and the manager had to go last week, but I’m not convinced that he was the problem. At least we managed the first win of the season on Wednesday, a 3-1 against Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
This was the last Sunsout puzzle in my to-do pile, and I don’t think I’ll be getting any more of them. The cut was, again, very mushy, and the pieces had to pushed very firmly into the places where they belong. A few times I had already tried a piece for a spot and thought it didn’t belong there, only to later find that I just wasn’t pushing hard enough. Very annoying. Too bad that most Susan Brabeau images available as puzzles are licensed by Sunsout – I would love to do more of her images, but the Sunsout quality is just too poor.
For Art’s Sake by Susan Brabeau, Sunsout, 1000 pieces. Completed on January 26, 2025.
For the puzzle challenge, this is No. 15, a statue.