Laying in Provisions

 Stave, 455 pieces. Another in the large pieces with arrow-shaped connectors line--I wonder if they were produced specially for the buyer. Again pretty tight, perhaps with age, and a number of winter/outdoor themed whimsies. 6/10

multi piece wagon

interacting bather and tub

interacting birds in formation

After the Rain

 Elms, 700 pieces. An impressionist image like this often looks almost undifferentiated in the pieces because the color changes slowly through the puzzle, but when assembled much more variety is apparent. This makes for some challenging assembly! As in a number of older Elms, there are also angled strip-cut sections that change the pace a bit. (Yes, I'm still paying to paint fences!) 6/10

umbrella and figure holding umbrella

strip-cut secton

topiary

different directions for umbrellas

spiderweb in corner

interacting acorn and leaves

leaf border

blurry but: unusual to see the Elms tree on a false edge

nteracting trees

another false edge, emulating the actual edge with leaf border

Turtle Teasers Competition Puzzle

 Turtleteasers, approx. 100 pieces. Identical images and the standard Turtleteasers cut make this challenging to separate out, but fun. 3/5

Nancy Bogni, Olde Holland

 Artifact, 303 pieces. Half easy colors, half really dark and requiring careful scrutiny. Geometric cut design with repeated quilt-like pattern. I think the 3d elements would actually turn if you turned the crank but they were a bit fiddly for me. 3/5

Balloon Festival Fantasy

 Stave, 300 pieces. I picked up several of these early Staves on eBay; this one was the first I did. Super interesting, with some hints of what was to come. Very tight (possibly age); unusual arrow connector throughout; somewhat more Par-like whimsies than eventual Stave style; mostly very large pieces (but, reflecting a common issue with cutters starting out, there were occasional out-of-scale whimsies, in this case tiny ones). 6/10 super interesting.

arrow shown clearly

rebus: H+eye awl+tea+2+D "high altitude"

interacting whimsies

more interacting/nearly interacting whimsies

acrobats

color line cutting to create a whimsy

parachutist

basket of people--unusual in that not all the whimsies are full whimsies

Hoefnagel Heart

 Chestnut & Hemlock, 200 pieces. I'll confess to liking the bunnies a bit better just because they made such a cute border, but this is another very nice hand-cut puzzle. 4/5

bouquet in vase

Feeding the Bunnies, Helen Hyde

 Chestnut & Hemlock, 210 pieces. Terra Rodgers started out cutting just very nice wood designs but has really enhanced her style with images. This features a clever bunny border, a fair amount of internal line cutting (but the spaces between bunny ears are almost enough to interlock) and small pieces with a mix of heart and knob shaped connectors. 4/5

Italian Riviera

 Unidragon, 500 pieces. Unidragon is never going to be a favorite of mine, but I appreciate that they experiment with image styles. This is a nicely colored image with some difficulty in the buildings. 3/5

My Special Tea

 Stave, 75 pieces. Two-sword Teaser with a theme you can guess from the name. Two frames probably make the assembly a bit easier, but it was quite fun. 6/10

well played, bunny ear cutout, well played