I'm a lazy bum, I use a damp sponge. ;)

I use crushed walnut shells, they should have them at Michaels or some quilt store carry them. They also help sharpen your pins.

I have made thread catchers with the bag that hangs down and a pin cushion that sits on the table. For weight I use a tile and cover that. The pin cushion sits on top of the covered tile. For the pin cushion I use tightly packed fiber fill. To add more stability I put a piece of the gripper material you use under scatter rugs on the bottom of the covered tile. To hold the bag open I use stay/boning. You can buy that by the yard at most fabric stores.

My daughter-in-law made me one using a pint wide mouth mason jar. She used the ring to make a pin cushion and then made a bag that fits inside the mason jar. This is really nice for car trips when I do hand work as the jar fits in a cup holder and the jar can be used to store my scissors, thimble, needles etc. The bag is easily removed to empty threads. As an added bonus she put a picture of herself and my son on the underside of the pin cushion so when I get lonely for them all I have to do is flip it over and see two faces smiling at me. She bought some fabric to use for it because she said the fabric looked like me. Believe it or not I had some of the same fabric in my stash. She knows me well.

I'm making several for a fall craft show and plan to use crushed walnut shells in them. I've been told that you can get a bag of them at a very reasonable rate from pet stores as they are used for reptiles tanks. Plan on using a funnel to place them in a nylon hose bag before adding to the decorative outer bag. But for me, I use a plane old red Folgers coffee can on my cutting table....easy to empty!!

would the nut shells cause a severe reaction in someone allergic to nuts? Even the smell of peanut butter can set one off, as I understand it?

I have made several thread catchers similar to the pictured one and never had a problem with sand leaking. Guess I never thought about it. Also I did use a thick fabric like denim. Perhaps if you don't think it might be a problem, it won't be.

I make an inner bag, put it in the pincushion bag and fill with a mixture of crushed walnut shells and sand. I filled the inner bag and stitched it closed and then sewed the pincushion (outer) bag. I've used this pincushion/thread catcher for several years and have not found pins to dull or sand to leak out. Purchase the crushed shells at pet store.

Ha! I use a little plastic pudding cup. :D

I used sand, just regular playground sand that I bought in a sack at Walmart. I didn't have any problem with sand leaking out.

Dina

I have not made one myself intended to but never did get around to doing so, mainly because I didn't think I would use it that much. At our 2013 Quilting Christmas party, during our gift exchanging game, the gift I ended up with was thread catcher that one of the ladies made. She used what seems to be piece of ceramic tile for the base. It sits very well without moving on my table. I find the thread catcher really comes in handy- more so than I thought it would, now I don't know why I never took the time to make one.