The Color Pin Cushion
Dedicated to Mrs. Bessie Smith, mother of Kathy Sue Brackin
and official Quilter of Jasper County

The pin cushion’s lowly beginning dates far back,
    Way back before the noble pitch fork and hay stack.
We know it began only in a busy home,
    Where the light of industry had most brightly shone.

The pin cushion is used only by the busy
    To hold hundreds of pins ready for the crafty,
Only and solely by those sewing and quilting,
    To accomplish by small thread an artistic thing.

So down through the ages the pin cushion has come,
    To aid in the soft craft and a question to some.
On a sewing table or near a quilting frame,
    It is always there full of pins and has no shame.

Very much like a good volunteer, you will see.
    Who is always soft and so full of industry.
Volunteers come in all colors, shapes and sizes;
    As you would expect they are full of surprises.

He or she is almost always soft and squishy,
    But they never loose their shape or ability.
For by experience and many a rough road,
    They together have, must and will always be bold.

It’s their nature to hold in their heart a sharp stick,
    As they avail themselves of many a pin prick.
Often our best times are on the other side of strife.
    What holds us together, but the sharp pins of life?

Indeed—the most experienced—many pins they share,
    To give to the Master for His good quilting care.
Through the ages long and from lots of pin pushin’
    There’re few things finer than a soft color pin cushion.

                                                          Michael Glenn Maness, 2008