Author: Donna

Donna https://bananaproductions26.wordpress.com Wife, Banana, nurse, mother, and maker of things fun and even nutritious from time to time. Currently, (well, the summer of 2014) I am home recovering from rotator cuff surgery, so have found a wee bit more time to discover the world of blogging. I can mouse pretty well with my left hand and am getting better everyday with my right. I've been thinking for a while now of posting some of the fun things I make and do, so this may be my chance. Stay tuned and we'll see what happens.
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Lowly Worm and his friends

Meet the Lowly Worm

Now, with any kind of good fortune, you will already know the Lowly Worm from your childhood or from belonging to another’s childhood, having read Richard Scarry’s books. The bestchildrens’ books ever. One of my favourite characters was, and is, the Lowly Worm. And now I finally have my own. with thanks to resources provided by Lynn Carson . I am now in love with him and am considering making him a wife. Stay tuned.

ps Although I am a very independent worm, I do need help tying my shoe.

I can sit down without using my arms
I can stand by myself
The room where I was born yesterday

And suddenly there was love. A sweet friend for Lowly. Her name is Lively.

Lively wearing her wig

Off to do our civic duty in the Canadian election April 28, 2025

A quick trip to the Alps, the origin of my Tyrolean hat, by the way,

It’s been a great week. but so very sleepy now. Off to bed.

A few new friends
I just can’t decide…hmmmmm

The iPhone (or any other phone for that matter) Holder

What I can no longer live without and have perhaps 4 active holders around my house. They easily hold iPads in landscape as well.

The little tab at the top will hold your charge cable in place.

Cord Keepers

If your life is like mine, keeping track of the too many cables and cords in my life ihas become chaotic. Here is method #1 : little circles of fused fabric in fun colours, with velcro closures.

Below is my preferred method, #2: I sewed some glasses cases from felt and added the names of the cords enclosed. I also label my cables with a sticker. they no stack neatly in my drawer and each one is different, so easy to find. Oh happy day

And just one more thing for today…

As I always say, you can never have too many lobsters. And bears. You need lots of those.

Seagulls

I just can’t help it. I love birds and I especially love seagulls. This pattern is from Oddnest on Etsy. I’ve made so many I’m losing count. Check them out here on the stuffed animals page. They are made like this: Body and feet: felt. Legs are clothesline top with knots for knees. Cotton beak and wings which are buttoned. Embroidery floss tufts and tails. Stuffed with polyfil and weighted with polypellets. Some have hats and shoulder bags filled with fish.

These guys are sitting just staring at me on the windowsill in my sewing room. They are asking me to make more, so what ever can I do????

So here’s the thing. Rain. The remnants of Hurricane Beryl were due here, so naturally, the seagulls needed rain hats. See how nice and dry they are? The gull on the far right is ready to fly off to a new home in the Maritimes, so has packed a carry bag with cod.

The “I -didn’t- think- I- needed- one -but -now -I -can’t -live -without- it” iPhone Holder

Here it is. It’s holding my iPhone so I can be hands free eating my lunch, or whatever. It is Cotton, stuffed with polyfil and polypellets. So it is weighted and won’t blow over in the wind, and washable if it gets dirty. Water won’t hurt it. It has a little tab on the top, handy for picking it up but also for holding the charging cable. I have several all over the house. It will also hold my iPad horizontally. I’ve made dozens, cause I think everyone should have at least one. I can see these for $15 each. this includes the little I am an iPhone holder card.

I had to have one to match my device cases.

Pouch making 101

It’s official. I can make a good zipped pouch. I wanted one that can sit, so flat bottomed. One that could hang on a hook. It had to be big enough to hold a good bunch of stuff, but not so big that you can’t travel with it. Washable. Pretty. But especially with a wide open mouth so you can see what’s in it. I searched the net. I like Noodlehead’s pouch. She has a great tutorial you can see here

This in fact is one of her photos showing the wide-openness I love. I used zipper by the yard for most and like them because of the little extra width and fun gold colour, even though the teeth are nylon and sew-thru-able, if you know what I mean.

My pouches are about 10″ wide and stand about 6″ tall. They are lined with fusible fleece to give body. I made a few with Annie’ soft foam too, but it’s not really necessary for form or function. I think the pouches coordinate nicely with matching fabric basket, reversible. The pattern for those…. hmmmm… let me hunt. There are lots of patterns out there, but mine is called Scraptastic and was free from Emmaline Bags.

Here are a few more pics. How many did I make? A lot. More than 30 pouches and I have to say I loved every minute.

The Hemingway Pouch

I saw this on-line and knew I had to try it. I bought the pattern here and used this great tutorial to help me. It was fun to make, with the only tricky part using a separated zipper that needed the pull re-attached after sewing. The pattern describe several sizes, and is easily adjusted to suit the size of any device really. I started with my laptop, a MacBook Air and used a fun dog fabric. You can choose any batting to add between the fabric layers, tho I love By Annie Soft and Stable. It’s a fabric covered foam which quilts beautifully and gives a nice cushy bag to protect any device.

I liked it so much I made and smaller one for my iPad.

The zips, by the way are just nylon, zipper by the yard, which allows cutting at any length. Send me a note if you’d like me to make you one.

The chicken potholder

Well. You start with one chicken and before you know it, boom! Hundreds of them roaming around.

Here we are: the first project of 2024. I saw this little potholder on social media and found a free pattern via YouTube. Here is the link. It is just big enough to fit my hand and will be great for grabbing a pot handle or lid or even something too hot to hold from the microwave. I may just do up a matching one for my other hand. I found the crown and beak too small for cotton and turning, so just cut them from felt. I didn’t have any iron-on batting, so used cotton and did some light quilting to attach it.

Wings lined with farm fresh eggs
Chicken wire bottom
the eggs
Canvas stripe, so a little firmer. Pretty darn cute, I think.

No improvement with posting frequency, but lots of NEW Stuff

Toys and dolls and banners and cards… all sorts of fun was had in my workshop this past year. I know I promised to post more regularly, but I failed. I will try to do better in 2024 but no promises. I’ve just now uploaded 65 new photos from just the past 8 months or so. This means lots to distribute among the pages listed in the menu.

Scroll around and have a look. Let me know if you’d like me to create some thing for you.

Candy apple red. All paper, but for the inside, which is fill with…. candies, of course.
Stacy Stick is made using a Cricut outline then sewn and stuffed to make a “living” cartoon doll. I love her
Cricut can cut anything. This is simple cardstock lined with gold tissue paper with a timed tea light inside. The entire thing comes apart to lie flat for storage. Well, not the candle. :-)
Gnomes, gnomes, tomtes and elves. Who wouldn’t want one. Check the menu under Christmas things for more.
Sewing and Circut-ing go together like jam and scones. An iPad case for hubby
Paper into flowers. I do love the magic that Cricut allows
My favourite little dogs.
Under the sea. Toys are truly my favourite things to make. I wish in some ways the small kids in my life would stay small so I can continue on forever. I do, however, make toys for adults too, whether they like it or not. Go check out the party animals and the Highland Coo.
Baby, Baby. Bear Lovies for all.
For the bird lover in all of us.

Finally, an update from me.

Home sweet home!

This is the heart of our home and where the sun shines the brightest. Over the years, and particularly these pandemic ones when we are home so very much, it has filled with all sorts of Banana Productions creations. These include the not very fancy, but functional re-upholstered couch cushions, the hot tub wall art and a few bits of quilty things and paper flowers. Shadow is still with us, thank goodness. she loves this sunny, warm area too.

I have a new toy

I think the new toy is, at least in part, to blame for my absence here. That and a slow computer which I have had fixed with and upgrade to my desktop Mac and the addition of a MacBook Air (bliss)

The New Toy is pictured below. Cricut maker 3. Santa brought it to me last Christmas (2021) and it has occupied a whole lot of my time. A considerable chunk was spent learning how to use it and I still feel I have a long way to go, but I can navigate the software quite comfortably now and feel confident in trying new things. My most favourite is working with paper and cardstock. I have a Cricut page which you can get to via the Menu at the top and if I learn this site a bit better, perhaps I can add a link right here. Yes!

All Things Cricut

My New Toy: the Maker 3. Here it is below set up in my room ready to go. I’ve had to do a significant re-org to allow for paper, card stock, glues, vinyl, HTV, sublimation paper, acrylics, mats, rollers, wires, crepe paper, hot glue gun and sticks, specialty markers and a fancy heat press. And that is just the short list. I can now make my own greeting cards at a cost of about $120.00 per card, not including my time… lol But all well worth it for the pleasure it all brings. I find I can combine Cricut functions with my sewing projects too, which adds to the creative possibilities. Take a look below at Mark’s new iPad case, for example.

Mark has his own iPad now and so needed a case for it. Heat Transfer vinyl cut by the Cricut and a foam lined case made by me with a velcro closing fit the bill.

I promise to post more often. Really. Meanwhile, go check things out. There are new additions in many of the pages.

The Rope Bowl

The rope bowl is one of my new favourite creative outlets. They are quite easy to create and a made so fast. I use only cotton clothesline rope, at least so far. And sometimes I wrap the rope in fabric and sometimes not. One of my favourites is this little one below that I made for Mark for Christmas. He loves the Bluenose and Lunenburg so much! We honeymooned there in 2004 and have been back twice since, most recently this past fall. In 2019 we were lucky enough to time our visit to be able to tour the Lunenburg Harbour on board the Bluenose. (Although the Bluenose was in Harbour in 2021, pandemic rules prevented boarding.) You can see Mark below as captain. It was a gorgeous, breezy day and a truly wonderful experience. In December 2021 I ordered a roll of the 100th birthday commemorative painted dimes from the Canadian Mint, created the bowl below and added one of the dimes with a little glue for embellishment. I think it turned out quite well. The bowl is small, about 4″ in diameter, just right to hold keys and some more dimes. He keeps it in his office near his Bluenose print. I’ve made a few more over the past year and you can see some of them on my rope bowl page here. If you’d like me to make you one, just leave me a note. If you want to make one, come on over.

Under Sail on Mark’s office wall

Breakfast is now being served (again)

  • Waffles in the toaster
  • Cream cheese for the bagels, of course
  • Pop tarts are nice too
  • The full breakfast complete with authentic Canadian Maple Syrup. Yum
Toasty and Delicious

I’ve made a few of these breakfast sets before and never get tired of them. They are almost life sized and I swear they smell good too. I get pretty hungry once the bacon get added. 🙂

If you’d like me to make you a set, just drop me a line. It’s too hot to play outside now anyway and my sewing room is lovely and cool.