I sew, I use pins, all the time. That means I need a pin cushion, or two or four or…..
This is the image that comes to mind when you say pin cushion. The tomato and the strawberry. This fellow is brand new, a gift to the members of the Valley Modern Quilt Guild from the Quilting store, Candys. As a child,I had inherited one, possibly from my great grandmother. Not sure when it got lost,or simply fell apart.
I made this about 6 years ago, just as I was getting back into sewing. Hmm, what is that fuzz I see there – you may be asking yourself. That is dust, hey, it has to go somewhere, why not in the crevices of a pin cushion.
I made a few of these owls, must have given some of them away. This is the only remaining one. Don’t use him as a pincushion anymore, in photographing him, I stuck in some pins.
I made this elephant a few years ago, not thinking he was a useful object. Well he is, he sits by my Juki and gets a lot of use. Notice those U-shaped pins? They are very useful when matching seams in patchwork. I have tried glue, I realize I like these pins better. Yes, they can be found at JoAnn’s, have never seen them in a real quilt store.
Then there are the one I’ve received in swaps. This one has to be from Alicia from the LAMQG, for a while she used blues with one little pop of red.
I did the year long swap, Crazy Like Fox, when I filled out my likes and dislikes, I said pin cushions. I think I meant I like to make them, but sure enough, I got quite a few, so now I have a collection. Most aren’t being used.
I like how this one is a little pillow, down to the detail on the back.
This style with a thread catcher is great to have next to a sewing machine if one has room next to the sewing machine….
Then there is this beauty from Glenni.
Her signature is french knots, everything she makes will have some French knots somewhere.
So which one do I use most often?
It used to be a magnetic one, this one has fallen too many times and has cracked.
Also, it itsn’t long before it’s one big messy rats nest. Hard to get hold of the needles.
So I splurged and bought myself a fancy Zirkel, also a magnetic pincushion, but with an upgrade.
The pins fan out and are much easier to grab. If you position a pin just right, it will stand up straight in the center, well for a few minutes it will, before it falls over and joins the rest.
This whole post came about because we are having a pincushion exchange at Valley MQG, so I am busy making a pin cushion. I’ll share that in another post.
Leah