La Pass Progress Again – M4

I know you have been wondering if I gave up on La Pass. Short answer: no.

Long answer:

Last year, in September, we started working on a puzzle that DH had bought for me about 15 years ago. We hadn’t done it before last year because we had other things to do (e.g. raising a kid) and the puzzle was 6,000 pieces.

Yes, you read that correctly: SIX THOUSAND.

Clementoni 6,000 piece Neuschwanstein puzzle in progress
Clementoni 6,000 piece Neuschwanstein puzzle in progress

I had wanted a Neuschwanstein puzzle and I am pretty good at jigsaw puzzles, but even I was daunted by 6,000 pieces. Additionally, I could see that at least 3000 of the pieces were trees or sky. Not fun. A challenge: yes, but not exactly fun. However, during the pandemic things changed. Also, I tore a ligament in my foot. Sewing not to mention hauling the boot up and down the stairs to my workroom was difficult.

So, we happily started working on the puzzle. The castle part was relatively easy and we finished that in a few months. Then progress slowed to a crawl as we sorted and re-sorted the greens of the trees and the flat blue of the sky. Pretty soon, I felt lucky to put 4-6 pieces in per night. Since we didn’t have anyone over for months, it was no problem that two 6 ft folding tables were taking up space in our living room.

As a result, my normal hand sewing time was usurped by the puzzle. At first this was ok, but now I have two bindings and La Pass to work on. Since I wasn’t making good progress on the puzzle, I was getting annoyed with it. Since we were planning a more normal Thanksgiving this year, we had to decide what to do with the puzzle.

Three person operation (2 shown)
Three person operation (2 shown)

I was all for giving up. I like to finish things as much as the next person, but DH hadn’t worked on the puzzle in a while and I didn’t want it all to fall on me. We debated and I let him win. We transferred the puzzle to a quilt, laid another quilt on top and rolled it up. This was a 3 person operation, not including photography.

Fast forward to post Thanksgiving. Our living room is free. I can see the TV from the couch. I have no puzzle sitting in my living room waiting for me to put locate the one piece I can fit in. YAY!

La Pass M4 Rosette #6
La Pass M4 Rosette #6

So, I sat down on Friday after Thanksgiving and started sewing EPP pieces like a demon. Leftover chores from hosting still demanded my time and attention. Also, my mom and stepdad came over to see my son, so I had to give them lunch. In between all of this, I sewed and I finished one of the M4 rosettes.

I was kind of shocked at how fast I blew through this. Granted, there is a lot less sewing that the big rosette, but still. Up until the other day, I felt like these took forever.

M5 is in the mail or will be momentarily. I’d love to get M4 done before M5 arrives. I still haven’t done much of M3, but if I can get M4 done soon, then I can work on M3 until M5 arrives and I have some hope of catching up. Fingers crossed!

Author: JayeL

Quiltmaker who enjoys writing and frozen chocolate covered bananas.