Article and Photos by Anne Groebner

Pine needles hold profound cultural significance worldwide, primarily symbolizing longevity, resilience, and purification. Greeks, Chinese, and Japanese people view pine trees as symbols of eternal life. Many Native American tribes view the pine tree as a symbol of wisdom and peace. Connie Cromwell knows there is something spiritual about the pine needle. She weaves them into baskets, allowing the energy to flow through her hands and create each piece, not knowing what the finish project will look like — and they are incredible. 

Cromwell’s studio has a calming quality to it. Her drawings and handcrafted masks hang on one wall, and Navajo rugs on another. Music plays softly, radiating instrumentals by a Cornwall musician named Medwyn Goodall. Pine needle baskets and gourds, with pine needles woven into them, rest on a vintage dresser that is burnished with turquoise, and her drawing table, where she is creating another amazing piece of art, sits in front of the window. Each piece, whether gourd, basket, or drawing, is done with delicate detail. Some say Cromwell’s handicrafts look tedious, but she says that sitting in her studio, working and listening to music is a mindset that is far from being tedious. Stitching, weaving, painting, and drawing to create something beautiful — it’s her passion.

She started weaving pine needle baskets after finding one in a store in Pinetop that had quail feathers. The image of that basket never left her mind, and she regretted not buying it. Cromwell is retired, so when she was looking for something to do, some hobby, she remembered the basket and decided that was what she wanted to do. She had done needlework all her life, and a needle in her hand was very familiar. So, after she reseached crafting pine needle baskets, she collected needles and thread and got to work. “I made some mistakes,” she said, “and I threw away a lot of pine needles.” But she changed some things, like using just damp needles instead of sopping wet ones, and kept going. 

She gets her pine needles anywhere she can; however, needles found in the forest are not the best. They sit outside so long that they get sunburned, weathered, and get black spots of mold on them. Fortunately, she has trees in her backyard, and her neighbors are happy to share their needles. Even the squirrels help her out by filing their teeth on branches until they fall. The twigs that the squirrels clip have green needles, unlike the brown ones already on the ground. Cromwell has made a few green baskets, but she has never held on to one very long because they sell fast. Although she shellacs them, she wonders if they eventually turn brown.

Cromwell spends many days outside looking for just the right needles. They have to be as long as possible. She places the needles she gathers in a bin in the shade on her deck to dry. Once she gets the bin full, she soaks them gently in soap and water for about an hour and then rinses them. After that, she soaks them in a hydrogen peroxide and water solution to remove any lingering bacteria or mold. Cromwell needs them cleaned well because she has asthma and works closely with the needles. After thoroughly cleaning them, she puts them back outside on a towel to dry. Sometimes she will cut the end caps off while they are still damp, but lately she has been leaving some of the end caps on for a uniquely styled basket.

Cromwell started using gourds because finding enough needles to last all year was difficult. With the gourds, she only uses needles as accents and trims. For Cromwell, it’s not just about the gourds; it’s about the pine needles and the artwork, paint, beadwork, and feathers, that make each finished project unique.

Last year, she decorated birdhouses made from gourds. She needed to find birdhouses that were clean and ready to be worked on. That’s when she found Martha, in coal country, Pennsylvania. Martha goes to gourd festivals and buys gourds, then takes them home and cuts, cleans, and drills them. Her work is impeccable. Cromwell will come up with an idea, sketch it out with specs, and Martha will jump on it and send her just what she needs. 

When she needed a dreamcatcher for one of her projects, she went on Etsy and found Jasmine, and the dream catcher was perfect. Cromwell feels that through the years, the three of them, a creative triangle — Pennsylvania, Texas, and Arizona — have connected because of the humble pine needle.

Watching Cromwell stitch the needles was amazing. Her nimbleness comes from years of experience — placing the needle in the right spot so it comes out in the right place on the other side so you don’t break a needle. She likes to use waxed linen thread or artificial sinew because the thread holds onto the needle and keeps the baskets tight. She continually adds needles and funnels them through a copper gauge (she used a soda straw when she first started). “Basically,” she tells me, “you take a stitch and add a needle.” When she comes to the end of a needle, she clips the sharp, poky ends. Having fewer poky ends is the reason she uses such long needles — so you don’t have so many clipped edges.

Cromwell’s baskets are smooth, not prickly. When you pick them up, nothing sticks out. Pine needles have two sides: a rounded side and a concave side. To keep the baskets smooth, she places the round side to the back. She was told that to tell if a basket is well made; you look at how well the beginning weave looks. If it’s tight, it’s a well-made basket. Her customers rave about her baskets, and she sells just about everything she makes. Her husband Ric posts photos of them on Facebook, but she only sells them through Pinetop Woodworks/Jessey Jayne’s Handcrafts in Pinetop, located behind Wine Mountain. You can email her at 

skinnerc333@aol.com.