Handmade Needlepoint Boxes: Lost Time and Everyone's Got to Come from Somewhere

I'm continuing my needlepoint explorations with hand-dyed thread, really enjoying the possibilities, particularly with variegated color shades. In addition to the dyeing of thread and stitching, making the boxes satisfies a need to vary my activity: cutting, measuring, gluing, wrapping, and choosing book cloth colors to really frame the finished thread pictures.

Here are two more. They are both 4" x 4" x 2.5", and posted at nevermindtheart. (The first two sold in a day.)

Lost Time. I was initially thinking about fossils, but I remembered the package of watch parts I had ordered for a workshop some years ago and decided to sift through them for shapes. Ultimately, I chose two watch hands and a gear to incorporate into the needlepoint design. Many times adding other materials can look random, but I tried to help them blend and integrate by stitching over the parts as well. The thread was all dyed with the color, "Razzle Dazzle." I hand-stenciled the gold flecks on the natural tan book cloth.

Poppies (Everyone's Got to Come from Somewhere). A single word is easier for a title, but the concept comes from a visit to Central Park in NYC, where a street poet said to us, "Where you from? California? Everyone's got to come from somewhere." I began the design by stitching the little California poppies, then the larger ones, then added the yellow, the green stems, the blue, and the white. I had no sketch; the image evolved in real time. My essay, "From Somewhere," about Central Park, was accepted by Litro magazine to be published on a future Sunday. (I'll post when I find out when.)

More images at nevermindtheart