19/10/2026
I did say it was only a slight pin-collecting problem…
Vix has mentioned my pin collection a few times on Sewing Street recently, after spotting all my Sewing Street and Hobbymaker pins on my lanyard when we were chatting at Festival of Quilts. I’m not entirely sure she realised quite what she’d uncovered!
I’ve been collecting pins and badges since I was in nursery, which means I’ve now been doing this for about 45 years! 😳
One of my very first was the Green Cross Code Man, and amazingly he’s still here! If you look closely, you can spot him amongst the chaos in the box. Since then, I’ve picked up pins pretty much everywhere I go. Countries, museums, theatres, concerts, days out. They’re like tiny little souvenirs of places I’ve been and things I’ve loved.
I’m also given lots by friends and family. They’ll spot something while they’re out and think, “That’s Joey!” which makes those ones even more special.
I haven’t counted them for a long time, but I reckon there must be around 1,000 now. Some live in boxes, while others are displayed around my craft room on cork boards, fabric boards and embroidery hoops. There are little collections within the collection too. Winnie the Pooh, Disney, books, crafty pins, places I’ve visited and, of course, Sewing Street and Hobbymaker!
And just to prove that 45 years later, absolutely nothing has changed…
I’ve just returned from a fabulous cruise, and naturally I managed to pick up a few more badges along the way. It would have been rude not to! But perhaps my favourite purchase happened without even leaving the ship.
Sewing Street launched a set of four Halloween pins while I was away.
Did I need them? Probably not.
Did I order them? Obviously! 🤣
And where was I when I ordered them? Sitting in a bar on the cruise ship, right next to John Scott!
Apparently even being on holiday doesn’t stop the collection growing!
Looking at them all now, I suppose I’ve always had a thing for collecting AND storage.
Perhaps Storage4Crafts was inevitable!
Now tell me, what do YOU collect? And at what point does a collection officially become an obsession?