Never again
 

Never again will I put needles in my pin cushions. I pulled all these out of my tomato pin cushion today. The needles with thread were the ones I had put in the cushion. All the rest were buried inside..... Those are some big needles that were buried.... the tiny ones I use could be lost forever. So, never again. I guess I'd better get busy making some needle cases.

:D I have done this same thing. LOL

Well now I might find some of my lost needles. But most of mine had 2-3" of thread. Oh well I'll still check!

I have a magnetic holder for needles. The pins have one also. I gave away all my tomatoes.

It's fun to open up an old old pincushion. Lots of needles made from good steel inside.

i love your pincushion...looks like we have the same fun need to sort and organize the pins by color! :thumbup:

Oops. I guess my OCD is showing again

I've done that too. :-/

How did you get them out? Did you cut the pincushion up to retrieve them? That's alot of lost needles!

No, I didn't cut the pincushion. I just squeezed it till I felt a needle and then used pliers to grab hold of it and pull it out. I have some really skinny pliers.

Maybe I should try that then. I know I haven't lost very many needles in mine, though. At least I don't THINK I have, Lol!

wow, that's a lot of buried needles

OMG......i thought they were lost forever in there....now i have to try and see if i can get them out !!! Thanks for the tip Jean !!!

I have to find my pin cushions first -- then I can look for the needles! Thanks for the tip--never thought about them "hiding" inside.

I do the same pulled needles out. Now I use a tea cup pin cushion just for needles. I separate my pins too! Glad I'm not the only one.

I've done the same thing :-( another BIG mistake I made was buying this cute plaid pin cushion that was scented like apple/cloves - my dog got hold of it - luckily no damage but still could have been really serious

I remember losing one or two some years ago. Then I decided to put my needles through the side of the tomato, and take a long stitch...so the 2 ends are both exposed. No more lost needles.

Me too! I am always losing needles

I use one seperate pin cushion to hold needles only.Works for me.....

I don't color coordinate my pins like you do, but I do have three different pincushions at my machine, each with different types of pins in them. A metallic pin cushion holds my favorites, the Clover super thin 0.4 mm pins (translucent yellow and blue round heads). A second pin cushion holds two types of pins, one type on each half: Light/dark blue flower head pins which are 0.45 mm, and those long sturdy pins with the yellow ball head. The third pincushion holds flower head pins (all colors), which are 0.5 mm. :p I use all the pins, for various reasons. ​Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't!

It must be the time of year to clean out pincushions. I did mine yesterday and found about 20 needles that had disappeared inside. I put them elsewhere!

I make it easy on myself -- I only purchase the white glass head pins. If I get others, I usually give them away. Some of the pins I am using are over 40 years old. I use a knitted pincushion and put all my needles in around the outside so I lose very few to a hungry pincushion monster.

I made a little pincushion of felt, like a pillow about 1.5" x 2.5" - really small - sits in my sewing basket next to my chair. I did the "squeeze" test on it once and came up with FIFTY needles, about 30 small hand quilting and 20 larger ones!! At least they didn't wind up on the floor where DH is invariably the one to step on them!

I have one of those magnetic holders for my straight pins and a magnetic case for my needles but how do they STILL end up on the floor all the time?? I always wear slippers in my house !!

When I put a needle in a pincushion I always take a nip of the fabric so the needle goes in and out again, then they do not get buried. I usually put them in a needle case but if it isn't handy I will use the pincushion.

I read on one of the forums about a woman who had been quilting/sewing for years and using one of the big tomato pin cushions. She decided to cut it open and see how many needles she could find, and she said she found close to 100!

recently dh was laying in front of the tv & asked "what is that on the carpet", seeing a line of what looked like sawdust I looked around and found a "tomato skin" wet & obviously chewed on. Our yorkie puppy had got hold of a pincushion and chewed it to bits. I picked up all the pins & over 50 old needles with a magnet out of the carpet. Later found more & a couple caught in the vacuum roll & hose. The pin cushion was old & I never used it for needles, they were all INSIDE . Puppy was ok luckily, don't know how she kept from swallowing one or get one in her mouth or gums.

I opened an old one of my grandma's, and found about 40 needles. The outside of the pin cushion was velvet fabric, and it was stuffed with horse hair. :)

Hmm, I was wondering what to do tonight! Think I will go exploring for needles - thanks for the advice!

I put needles into my pincushion like I'm pinning fabric. Both end are exposed. I try to put them back in whatever pack they came from when I'm finished sewing.
I used to have a habit of using the arm of the lounge chair as a pin cushion. After leaning on it one day with my hand and finding 2 needles the painful way I was cured of that bad habit.

I don't put mine pins and needles so far into the cushion - just about 1/2 way so have never had the problem. Its attached to my machine so doesn't get rolled around. :)

I am giggling! :) Carefully searching through my mothers tomato pincushion was always my job as a child. I had forgotten about how much fun it was to gently squeeze that little bugga-boo until all the missing needles were recovered. Got some good pokes from time to time but I thought I was being a big girl helper when I recovered a selection of needles for my mom.

Same here. The magnetic containers are the best

My husband bought me a mechanics bowl, it, s magnatized to hold small parts, at Heighbor Freight .Works great and comes in 2 sizes.cheaper than the fabric stores. I also cut up my tomato and got back all my needles.

I used to put my needles in the corner of the living room drapes, at least I did until the cleaners yelled at me when I missed one before I sent the drapes to be cleaned. Oops! My DH came up with a great idea to keep all of us safe from needles. Below is the first needle holder DH made out of some of his plastic canvas, and the second one, nearly done. I want to use the new one for my upholstery needles so they are out of the way. I think his idea is perfect, no 'found' needles, no finger pokes, and best of all the thread doesn't tangle on it. Please feel free to make your own. I even made one for my daughter with a quilted cover.

Wow what a wake up call. I have dropped my needles in my arm chair as I'm sitting hand stitching binding and haven't found them. I know they went between the inside arm and seat cushion. I put a magnet inside my sewing basket instead of using the pin cushion in the lid.

I was thinking the same thing!

i keep my needles in a different pin cushion from my pins !

me thinks you need to join the pin cushion swap and make yourself some new ones

I use the colors to mark various spots on projects. Red might be the color at the half point or yellow at the ending spot, etc. Anyway, that is my story and I'm sticking to it--LOL.