Thomas Waterman Wood (1823-1903) was an American painter born in Montpelier, Vermont.
In Threading a Needle, an elderly lady sits with a pair of socks on her lap; large holes and frayed ends indicate that they badly need mending.
Probably compensating for an unsteady hand, she furrows her brow and bites her lip in concentration as she peers through her eyeglasses to thread a needle.
A pair of scissors and a ball of thread hang from her waist by a ribbon.