Late Harvest, an embroidery kit from Hazel Blomkamp that I reviewed here, was meant to be my carrot.

I like to have an embroidery carrot hanging about – an enticing project that I reward myself with when I meet a goal.

Lately, though, it’s been my Pondering Project. And it works well for that!

There are times throughout the work day when I find myself at a loss as to what step to take next. What approach should I take on this project? How should I tackle that project?

When I’m stumped like that, I find I can ponder The Next Thing and work out ideas while I’m stitching on Late Harvest.

I can’t always do that with every embroidery project, especially projects that I’ve designed and I’m working through for the first time. In such cases, my mind is normally occupied with what step to take next on that particular project.

But if I’m following someone else’s directions, it’s much easier to think about something other than the project I’m stitching on while I’m stitching on it. It’s a good time to work out little directional problems and develop ideas. And it’s nice to be able to do that while still making some progress on something.