The comments about wrist pin cushions made me smile. All of you who successfully use them have my awe and respect. When I have tried to use wrist pin cushions, I kept stabbing myself in the wrist. I finally decided I was sewing, pinning, whatever and not looking at where the pins were headed and the chances that I would ever look were between slim and nil.
So, keeping my pins in order was finally solved by a huge, round pin cushion my mother made for her mother-in-law before i was born. It is very tightly filled with hair and metal shavings and covered by a piece of upholstery fabric.
Bottom line: keep trying until you find what works for you. And to those of you who are like me and do the stab yourself trick, well, if it is any consolation, you are not alone.
Happy holidays!
Pat