Side-quests
How is it that the path to doing what we want and going where we want is never ever straight, but all a bit wiggly?
Picture a knight in armour, galloping along: sword in hand, visor down, ready to do battle with the Gods of Creativity. Or something…
He’s on a mission, a quest.
But my guy is blimmin’ useless. Off he trots, all full of enthusiasm, before suddenly pulling on the reins and galloping off in a totally different direction. Or even when he’s cracking on in a straight line, there’ll be some other unforeseen obstacle in his path.
My main mission for this autumn?
Stitching and filming and doing exciting things with this little lot, the project I started many moons ago. Here’s a screenshot from one of the videos so far:
So far so good. You’d think that’s the direction I sent my knight (a.k.a. my attention) this week, yes? Nope!
Think again. Before I could settle to anything that needed a bit of thought, it was far more fun to carry on with my own little project from my Confidence Kickstart course.
Side-quest 1:
Here’s me stitching…
Well that’s all a bit too pretty. So here’s what happened next!
Bit drastic?! It all came together in the end and I’m rather pleased with it:
The coded word across the pages is ‘confidence’, appropriately enough! And that bright orange features again, so keep reading!
Time for the main mission now? Nope!
Side-quest 1 finished, Brain now decided it was far more important to iron out a few wrinkles about the way I do things here on Substack, specifically with how I talk about my courses. Because that’s not really what Substack is for. And Brain has a very good point, but did I really need to sort this out right now? This week? Apparently so.
Enter side-quest 2: The search for simplicity
So I tasked my knight-in-armour with the quest for a bit of business simplicity. Streamlining. Ducks in a row. That kind of thing.
Problem: Simplify how I tell people (that’s you dear Reader) about courses, so I don’t do it here, as that’s not necessarily what you signed up for when you subscribed to Threadnoodle.
Solution: Use the email at my courses website for that kind of thing. For my teaching news, proper waitlists: all that. Separate and clear and easy for people to know exactly what they’ve signed up to. Obvious really, but I don’t always do the obvious - why make life simple, heh heh.
The path to simplicity - even the most logical simplicity - is never straight
In other words, reality turns out to be a spaghetti-tangle of false starts, dead-ends, time on the computer, and all sorts of technological hurdles that bore me rigid but still occupy far too much space in my brain all the time they’re unresolved.
After a few days of fiddling with this stuff - important stuff that I really need to do but that ISN’T my main quest or mission in life - my brain is absolutely FRIED and I just need some pottering-about-the-kitchen time to unwind, perhaps watch a YouTube video or listen to a podcast.
I need to get off the horse and give myself a break!
But then a new problem arises. When I’m pottering or cooking, my back is to the doorway. People come in and just start talking to me, or at me, without checking if I’m actually listening to them, or a podcast or video or whatever.
So then I get irritated, then they get upset, so I apologise, and we have a little chat about whatever it was. But I’ve now lost my original train of thought or what’s being said on the podcast, and I end up feeling even more wound up than when I started.
New side-quest activated!
How do I fix this?
How do I let people know - WITHOUT TALKING - that I’m OK, I still love them, dinner is on its way, but I’m just having a bit of ‘me time’ and please don’t interrupt me?
Now this may not seem a big thing to you, and it’d be reasonable to assume that talking about it with family beforehand would fix it. But I’ve tried that, didn’t work. They forget. We’re all pathologically inattentive in this house. Yet for people with busy brains, time to calm it all down is imperative. A walk helps, but mostly I just need to do a bit of pottering and get dinner on.
Possible solution?
Something like a netball vest springs to mind. I despised all school sports and team games, but I did like Wing Defence. No goal shooting required, just sticking like glue to my opposite, Wing Attack. The beauty of netball is you don’t hold onto the ball and do something clever, you just chuck it really quickly to someone else and make it their problem instead.
New question: make or find?
Something that could fit easily over my clothes, and quickly signify that I wasn’t to be interrupted? Like an apron, but backwards because it’s my back that people see first when they come into the kitchen.
Solution!
Bright orange sleeveless thing from charity shop, with tie front and large arm-holes, easy to slip over a jumper and tie round my waist. Just need to cut off the collar (hate collars) and the frilly bit around the arms (just no).
Next conundrum
How about something on the back…a word? What word? “Thinking” ? Or “Shhh”?
Interlude: Make the mistake of asking the Relevant People what such a word could be, manage to offend the whole household with the notion that I may need a little bit of down-time occasionally and whenever I try I’m always interrupted and that’s why I’m trying to find a solution. Everybody take a few hours to cool down and do something else…
Another side-quest, a sub-side-quest?!
No words. Too inflammatory. Instead, find a nice little symbol for ‘downtime’ or ‘rebooting’ and stick that on the back.
Next question…
Paint or stitch? Stitch. Appliqué. Find fabric bits, stick, stitch…
And voilà! Here’s the finished article which I will probably never wear after the reaction from even mentioning the idea.
Don’t even get me started on my next side-quest
Which is an urgent ‘need’ to make a differently shaped lavender-filled eye-pillow thingy to replace my current one, that’s soothing and helps me drift off to sleep, but is a long rectangle which slips off to the side thus waking me up again. I’ve even found these things online, which are intriguing…oh look, sewing patterns to make your own…Stop me now!
Is it just me?
Are you a straight-line thinker and do-er? Or do you prefer to take the scenic route? What’s the most ridiculous side-quest you’ve indulged in?!
Until next time, if you need me, you’ll (hopefully) find me galloping forth into battle with my sewing machine - to make nice things, not ridiculous things!
Looking for Fabulous Free Motion?
The Autumn 2024 course has started but if you’re kicking yourself for not joining, you can still catch up:
The lessons are released weekly, so because we’re past the start-date you’ll be on a different schedule to those already in the course. If this really bothers you, once you’re inside the course, I can fix it🛠️ to get you up to speed!
Need a little kickstart into easy mixed media textile art? There’s still time to join my free course - all lessons are available until the end of September:
Very funny and something I can definitely identify with! I too don't like interruptions but like others often find it helps the creative juices, albeit slow creative juices! When I was writing my masters dissertation I used to tie a red scarf on the bedroom door so my teenagers knew not to enter!
I am also a great procrastinator and get distracted by things that just have to be investigated - now!
I like your word side-quest because I have them aplenty. It’s very frustrating because I’d like to FINISH something, but oh look - that book on improv quilting/make a useless but decorative object… etc etc