Pin cushion

“ On her death one pound and nine ounces of pins were found in her stomach and duodenum. There are individuals known as "human pin-cushions," who publicly introduce pins and needles into their bodies for gain's sake.
The wanderings of pins and needles in the body are quite well known. Schenck records the finding of a swallowed pin in the liver. Haller mentions one that made its way to the hand. Silvy speaks of a case in which a quantity of swallowed pins escaped through the muscles, the bladder, and vagina; there is another record in which the pins escaped many years afterward from the thigh. ”

“ Since the pins which hold the threads in place must be [63] constantly moved along as the work proceeds, it is very important that the cushion should be stuffed with something that the pins can easily penetrate. These particular cushions were stuffed with wool, some contain straw, and the linen covering was blue, tho it is often the natural color. Besides guiding the tiny brass pins (which vary with the delicacy of the lace) that hold the thread, each child must know how to manipulate the long brass pins which separate the various groups of bobbins not in actual use. ”

“ Oblique rows of prominent cushions wind round the surface of the stem and branches: each cushion is prolonged upwards and downwards in the form of a narrow ridge with sloping sides which connects adjacent cushions by an ogee curve. At the upper limit of the broader kite-shaped portion of the cushion the ligular pit forms a conspicuous feature; immediately below this is the leaf-scar with its three small scars,—the lateral parichnos strands and the central leaf-trace. The two oval areas shown in fig. ”

“ The pins are of enormous size, seven or eight inches in length, and half an inch wide, and are made of various substances, such as tortoise shell, carved wood, and ivory. Some of the most characteristic hair-pins are made of glass. They are hollow, and nearly filled with some colored liquid, so that at every movement of the wearer an air bubble runs from one end of the pin to the other. Sometimes a woman will wear a dozen or more of these pins in her hair, so that at a little distance her head looks as if a bundle of firewood had been stuck loosely into it. ”

“ Only the best grade of rubber is used for good cushions. The rubber is molded in long strips in some form of isosceles triangle, depending on the style of the game to be played. A highly resilient structure is given the cushion for the pocket table, and one less so for the carom. ”

“ When you've made the cushion square, if you want it square, go around the three remaining sides and tie a break-water, so to speak, so that the weaving won't ravel out. Trim your fringe even and there's one side of your pillow."
"One side would be enough for a pincushion." [196]
"If you want to make a big sofa cushion—a grown up one—you'll have to make a wide plait of raffia—a four strand or six strand braid—or else you'd never get it done." ”

“ For example, if you want a cushion with a group of daisies, gather a handful of fresh ones,—take a bit of linen or china crape, or fine crash or pongee, and, with green and white and gray and gold-colored silks, make a picture of the daisies as they look to you, not using any particular kind of stitch, but employing long ones or short ones, or loose or tight ones, just as comes most easily in giving the effect you want to get. ”

“ Page 110 to our previous experiences, would have been up some particular tree, or buried in a particular spot of the ground; but the inside of a sewn-up cushion, fortuitously chosen on the spur of a moment, struck me, as my eye happened to fall upon the cushion I mentioned first, as a particularly good place; and when I had started the idea of a cushion, my wife's amendment to the original proposal was really an improvement, for the particular cushion then selected had never been for a moment out of her own possession all the morning. It was her usual jampan cushion ”

“ In France the right to kneel upon a cushion in church behind the king was jealously guarded and strictly regulated, as we may learn again from Saint-Simon. This type of cushion was called a carreau or square. When seats were rude and hard the cushion may have been a necessity; it is now one of the minor luxuries of life. ”

“ Covering the cushions with cloth is such an exceedingly difficult and delicate operation that it should not be attempted by an amateur; very few workmen can cover a cushion as it should be covered, and, therefore, it is useless to describe the 82operation. ”

“ Rarely seen, if ever now, is the serrated cushion, with a face like a saw whose dulled teeth are set inches apart, and not often is there complaint that the speed of the bed is greater than that of the return from the cushion, or else not quite so great. ”

“ The student should be careful to use only the best gold-leaf. Some of the cheap foreign leaf is very poor in quality. He should be careful also to avoid the leaf known as “Dutch metal,” which is not gold at all.
A gilder’s cushion should be obtained with a knife and tip. (See Fig. 30.) The cushion is generally about nine inches by six in size, and is made by stretching a piece of soft leather over a piece of board slightly148 padded. ”

“ When the backgrounds of pictures in raised or stump embroidery are not of silk or satin left more or less visible, they are usually worked in one or other of the innumerable varieties of cushion-stitch, so-called, it is said, because it was first introduced in the embroidering of church kneeling-cushions. ”

“ The plantar cushion is a wedge-shaped mass of tough, elastic, fibro-fatty tissue filling all the space between the lateral cartilages, forming the fleshy heels and the fleshy frog, and serving as a buffer to disperse shock when the foot is set to the ground. It extends forward underneath the navicular bone and perforans tendon, and protects these structures from injurious pressure from below. ”

“ This cushion being compressed from above and being unable to expand downward by reason of the resistance of the ground acting against the horny frog, acts like any other elastic mass and expands toward the sides, pushing before it the yielding lateral cartilages and the wall of the quarters. ”

“ Bachelors’ wall pincushions are useful presents for gentlemen. They are made of plush, and are ornamented with the perforated brass ornament used about the harness of cart-horses. These brass rounds are sold by all harness and saddle makers, and cost from sixpence to a shilling, and for the latter price the small brass handle by which they hang will be removed by the shopman, as it is not required for the pincushion. A quarter of a yard of plush, a quarter of a yard of house-flannel, and one yard of narrow satin ribbon are required for these cushions. ”

“ Sometimes the needle-cushion is on an upright of its own, apart from the work-box, and has a long base which is pressed under the knee while the cloth is fastened to the loop. The thimble is not of metal, but of leather or thick paper and is nothing more than a ring put over the first joint of the middle finger.
In sewing, the needle-cushion upright is put to the right of the worker, and an end of the cloth is hitched to the loop. The threaded needle is held and the tip only is moved up and down while the cloth itself is gathered in small folds on the needle ”

“ Now sew your two squares of canvas together along three of the edges on the wrong side, taking a seam of four threads of canvas. Turn on to the right side, pull the case over the stuffed cushion, and oversew the edges of the fourth side together.
Finish the cushion with blue cord, making a loop at each corner; the cord should be hemmed on along the seam all round. The oversewn seam can be opened a little way and the ends of the cord tucked in and sewn securely to make a neat finish. Three-quarters of a yard of cord will be sufficient to go round the cushion. ”

“ MATERIALS..—Brooks' Great Exhibition Prize Goat's-head Knitting Cord, No. 40, or 60, with a suitable hook.
This is a new and extremely pretty kind of cushion, for the back of a chair, which renders an ordinary seat almost as commodious as a professedly easy chair.
A small cushion is made, just the length of the back of the chair, and narrow in the proportion seen in the engraving, which is covered either with Berlin-wool work, or (as we have designed) with crochet. ”

“ If a cushion is used, it should be very firmly stuffed, as it is impossible to do work nicely on anything but a hard cushion. It should be about fifteen inches long, four inches high, and five inches wide. ”

“ The cushion B' has a V-shaped recess in the lower portion thereof, thereby forming a crotch F', from which the partition E extends to the top of the cushion, so as not to interfere with the anatomy of the body at the relative place, while the sections of the cushion, being independently inflated, are not liable to burst, owing to the variable pressure to which they are subject during the motions of the rider of the bicycle, &c. ”

“ Struck with force, a much larger ball would jump over the cushion, while a much smaller, jamming itself between table’s bed and cushion’s edge, would jump inwardly.
Cushions must be tuned to balls. Unless the former have a given height and pitch, there cannot be accurate reflection, and there may be inaccurate stroke. Height has already been discussed. Pitch is the inward slant of the cushion’s top surface as a guide to the cue in certain situations.
THE MAGIC BALLS. With balkline the vogue, as much depends upon balls, cloth and cushions as upon the player himself. ”

“ These have been brought to England up the river in ships, and the men, with great cushions on their heads, carry them to the markets. The cushion is to make it soft and prevent the hard wood of the box hurting their heads, and they carry a huge boxful in this way more easily than you or I would carry a book. ”

“ Consequent upon the displacement of the bone, the plantar cushion, by reason of the continued pressure thus put upon it, becomes atrophied, while its hinder half is, as it were, squeezed into taking up a position more posterior and higher in the digit than normally it should. ”

“ A Velvet Cushion is likewise to be provided, to carry the Knight’s elect Mantle, Collar, Hood, and Book of Statutes, before him, in the Progress into the Choire, in order to his Installation. At the Installation of the Lord Treasurer Weston, and the Earls of Exeter and Lindsey, who were installed, Anno 6 Car. I. the materials and garnishing of these Cushions are recited severally, to contain one Yard and a Half of Crimson Velvet, one Ell of rich Taffety for their Lining, four Yards of Fringe, and four great Tossels. ”

“ A CREAM-COLORED PORCELAIN STOVE IN A NEW YORK HOUSE
Which reminds me: the floor cushion, made of the same velvet made for carpeting, is a modern luxury we can't afford to ignore. Lately I have seen such beautiful ones, about three feet long and one foot wide, covered with tapestry, with great gold tassels at the corners. The possibilities of the floor cushion idea are limitless. They take the place of the usual footstool in front of the boudoir easy chair, or beside the day bed or chaise-longue, or beside the large bed, for that matter. ”

“ A portion of the cushion below the triangular leaf-scar often shows transverse gaping cracks or depressions (fig. 185, C) such as occur on a smaller scale on the older cushions of a Fir twig (fig. 140) . Secondary thickening, as in recent trees, is not confined to the vascular cylinder but at an early stage, frequently before there are any signs of secondary wood, the outer region of the broad cortex becomes the seat of active cell-formation which results in the addition of a considerable thickness to the bark. ”

“ It stands on the ends of its five toes, each of which is terminated by comparatively small hoofs, and the heel-bone is a little distance from the ground. Beneath comes the wonderful cushion, composed of membranes, fat, nerves, and blood-vessels, besides muscles, which constitutes the sole of the foot. The fore-foot is larger than the hind one, and as the creature does not require to climb, or to lift its fore-limb very high, there is no collar-bone. In the young there is more hair on the body than might have been expected, and they have a set of milk teeth. ”

“ As for my pincushion, I fairly soaked it with tears when I first found it. I told you about the pincushion, didn't I? Why, that little lamb, for days before she went, was working away at something, she would not let me see what. After she was gone, I went up to my room for a quiet cry, and there was a gorgeous new pincushion, and 'I love you,' on it in pins. My dear little girl! ”

“ In planing, the wood to be planed is either laid flat on the bench, with its end against the little pin, to prevent its moving, or fixed in the screw of the bench, and the plane being brought upon the top or edge of the wood, is pushed carefully, but somewhat sharply along. The shaving comes through the hole in the plane, and must be cleared away, from time to time, out of the way of the knife. Everything planed should be planed perfectly level, smooth, and even.
The Chisel.—The use of the chisel is to cut square or sharp-cornered holes in wood, especially mortices. ”

“ All around the outside edge they are bored for the insertion of the bolts to fasten the cushion rails to the slate. Screw holes, countersunk, are bored from the top down through the slabs, around the outer edges, through which the slate is screwed to the frame. ”