I am in the process of making some chicken pin cushions like those shown on tutorials by Jenny Doan, MSQC and Shar Jorgensen. I want to make more of a variety, but need to find a source for the walnut shells, supposedly used by lizards, I think, "Lizard Litter?". My Mom would take apart pin cushions and add her own hair to them, saying that the natural oils in the hair would keep the pins and needles from rusting.

I like raw wool stuffing for pincushions. I have several stuffed ones.

The only pincushion I have or need is sand in the bottom, stuffed with wool, and has plaid wool as the outer cover, with a button on top. It was a gift from my Secret Sister at my local guild. I was asked what I wanted most to add to my sewing equipment. I said a wool pincushion, never expecting her to actually make one. It is about 6-7" across, and 3" high.

i have several one my friend made me its wool and another is a chicken one !!

I went to Harbor Freight and bought 3 round magnetic dishes at $1.99 a piece. Same thing sells for $11.99 at my Joann's. Lids from round plastic storage containers snap on when traveling to classes. I have one by the machine I'm using, one at my ironing station and one at my cutting table. Not as cute as pincushions but much better for me.

I made this one from a Jeny Doan tut using 2 log cabin blocks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyvomCiN9Oo

The head is stuffed with polyfill... the body is stuffed with walnut shells. It just makes me smile. ;-)

I previously posted a link to a "glamper" pincushion that is on my to-do list. http://www.quiltingboard.com/links-r...e-t277444.html

Good luck! Post pics when you get it done!

I have all kinds of different pincushions, but the two I use everyday are the one with the attached thread catcher made by a friend on the quilting board next to my machine, and the other a small ball made from felt fabric this sweet quilting board person makes all the time with her left over felt fabric by putting them in the dryer and then shrinking into a small ball about 2 or 2 1/2 inches across. It is so dense that my needles never go to the bottom, and the felt has a natural softness and helps to sharpen the needles. There are many cute ones out there to easily make, but I prefer the ones I want to use everyday. :)

That is a cute chicken as are the others shown above. I have a white chicken one that someone sent me a long time ago.

I too use the "tomato" pincushion that belonged to my mom. My needles don't rust tho, so it might be filled with wool :D

I love the look of all the funky little critter-shaped pin cushions, but the practicality of a magnetic pin holder. Perhaps you could do something that sort of combines the two -- with a magnet on the bottom for grabbing up the pins quickly & easily & the top is a critter that you can jab the pins into.

I remember seeing a couple that were my absolute favorites. One was a Snoopy dog house pin cushion with a Woodstock needle holder. Another one was a family of funky chickens that were all tacked together. I think the baby chick was a needle holder & the other two were pin cushions -- one was the larger rooster for holding longer silk pins & the other was the hen for regular sized pins. I personally like that idea since I use a lot of applique pins & (1) like to keep those separate, and (2) need something with less resistance to push them into. Perhaps you could do one filled with walnut shells for their sharpening properties & the other filled with either wool or human/horse hair for the rust-preventing properties.

Or the other option would be to have it like a crocodile & you can put the straight pins in its head/body or open up its mouth & there's storage for safety pins. Right now I store my pins in a divided plastic storage box because I like to have them all together in the same place (#2 & #3 safety pins, silk pins, applique pins & T-pins).