Handmade silk pin cushion

This beautiful handmade silk pin cushion was made by a sailor's sweetheart, as a keepsake for his long voyages. This sentimental object harks back to a time when sailors would have been at sea for who knew how long, and they would have taken great risks in going to sea.
The womenfolk of Littlehampton would have been left waiting for their sweethearts, husbands and fathers, and created keepsakes such as this one for them to remember them by whilst they explored the big blue.
Are nostalgic objects like this outdated in the modern world of text messages and social networking sites? Or are they a poignant reminder of a time when you had no other way of telling somebody you loved them, and you gave them an object such as this to remember you always?

You can see this object on display in the 'Homelife' display at Littlehampton Museum.