Swapbot Lizzie Kate Valentines cross stich swap

Swapbot Lizzie Kate Valentines cross stich swap
Originally uploaded by Jacinta H

I received this cute little hanging pillow from Courtney for a swap-bot swap. Courtney also sent some bobbins with floss and she made a beautiful beaded scissor fob (shown on my scissors). I have always wanted to try to make a scissor fob myself - now I have a bit of inspiration to go with.

I sent off four swaps today - three to the USA and one to Europe. Heres hoping they get to their destination without any dramas.

January 2009 biscornu received

January 2009 biscornu received
Originally uploaded by Jacinta H

Received this biscornu from Doreen for the Swapbot January biscornu swap. Doreen used a Lizzie Kate pattern. Its a nice addition to my collection.

Match box shrine

Swap-bot has introduced me to a number of new crafts - the latest being matchbox shrines. I created this shrine using the theme "birds and nests" and sent to another Aussie, Julie. The shrine includes an oversized golden egg and a hanging bird charm.

I was happy to hear that Julie received the shrine last week and it was a good fit for her interests.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY

Well Australia Day has come and gone - we did nothing to celebrate as both Robert and I had normal weekend commitments to deal with and I had a few swap-bot things to finish this weekend. It was nice to enjoy a quiet day at home however and both of us were out and about on Sunday and took the opportunity to fly the colours of our flag!

Outrigger padding training is back in full swing and for the past two Saturdays I have taken part in a marathon training paddle around Admiralty Island here in Cairns. The round trip is about 18km and we have been able to do the round trip in record times both weekends because we had the tides working with us.

I now have four new finishes to send off to swap-bot recipients - I will start packaging them up tomorrow and hopefully have them in the mail by Wednesday.

Swap-bot biscornu

I received another biscornu in the mail this week - from Doreen (spurway) in Canada. The theme was white and one colour and I nominated green as my choice. Doreen also included a stack of buttons which is a welcome addition to my stash and a piece of green Aida for another project - the Aida is particularly welcomed as I can't buy fantastic colours like this locally.


I sent out a biscornu that I stitched over the Christmas break - this one was sent to Marion in Melbourne. Marion won a Handmade Heavenlies Group WTA and while she isn't a stitcher I figured that a biscornu is something a bit different and quirky. The pattern is an Aurelle freebie which was a quick and easy to stitch up and I added selected parts of the pattern for the back.

Swaps sent

I received word from Liz (redcrystal) that she received the January Colour Me Silly swap box of goodies that I gathered together for her. I really enjoyed collecting all the "stuff" for this swap - it was a simple idea - a parcel of blue things that your swap partner would enjoy receiving. I also found a great blue box to put the stash in so I hope Liz can find a use for the box as well. Liz wrote and told me she really enjoyed receiving the parcel - so pleased you like it Liz.

January Colour Me Silly - blue box

I also sent out a mass of postcards to swappers all over the world - I sent of a heap of postcars that Robert bought back from his trip to Western Australia (he went via Central Australia) so that was a bit different from postcards from Cairns.

postcards sent for swapbot swap.

Soooo much rain :)

Satellite image of Cyclone Charlotte (12 Jan 09)

Well the first cyclone of the year for our region and what a dumping of rain! Cyclone Charlotte crossed the coast of Cape York Peninsula this morning at the mouth of the Gilbert River as a category 1 cyclone which is strong enough to be a pest but not strong enough to do a lot of damage.

The cyclone quickly deteriorated into a rain depression and what a rainy depression it has been! Cairns received over 300mm before 9am this morning (that's a foot of rain if you measure things in the old scale) and then another 250mm since (its 9pm now). I took these photos of the rain overwhelming the guttering at our house this morning.

the pool nearly overflows as the rain pours in faster than the overflow pipe can remove the excess water.

Lucky for us our house is built on the foothills of Mount Whitfield so the water drained away quickly and efficiently. However that does mean that the water had to find somewhere to flow to and unfortunately for us that place was between our house and our office!!!

Anderson Street, Manunda (the Subaru handled the water levels)

It took 45 minutes to travel the 4km from the house to the office - perhaps this method would have been quicker.
(Brown Street, Westcourt)

never mind, the weather was great for some!

(ducks on the bank of the Barron River)

Tomorrow is likely to be just as wet and uncomfortable so its off with the good shoes and on with thongs and bare feet for work - typical Queensland.

A sign of things to come?

I wandered through our undercover entertaining area today to discover that we now have automotive parts hanging from the roof. They were accompanied by the telltale aroma of freshly sprayed paint and looked suspiciously like an extension of Robert's work space in the garage! I am wondering what else will be hanging from the ceiling next time I walk by.

We must have had quite a bit of rain while we were away - the water level in the pool is up to the overflow outlet and the garden has gone mad. Mum's Garden at the front of the house is looking good despite the fact that Mum is not here to look after it and the plants are quite small still. Mum planted this area while she was staying with us last year (2008) and I expect that it will take off over the wet season and be totally established by the time Mum gets back next year for another instalment.

Mum's Garden

The gingers in the back yard have gone mental and are all flowering at the moment - it was difficult to get a good photo of them as the space that they take up is quite large. However there are at least 3 full blown flowers and another 3 or 4 budding.

We dont really spend a lot of time in the garden except to do a major cut back and tidy up once or twice a year. Mother nature takes care of the rest.

Swap-bot treats received

When I returned home this morning I collected my mail from the post office and took receipt of a number of swap-bot treats.

First there were two post cards from swap-botters in the US. These will be included in my ever growing collection received via swap-bot.

Next I unwrapped this fun biscornu from Cathy in Canada - it was for the winter newbies biscornu. Cathy included some extra little buttons as well - always handy for stash. The photo doesn't really do the biscornu justice as the grey stitching you can see is actually a sparkly silver snowflake. There are also sparkly bits about the edge. Well done Cathy.

Next there was an envelope with three ATC's (artists trading cards) sent from autumnrain another fantastic swapper. The idea of the swap was to make up three ATC's, two with set themes and one with an open theme. The two set themes were "Fruit" and "Nature" and the photos below show the results of the artists interpretation of this theme.

Fruit Salad.

Nature's Seasons

The third ATC was an open theme and my swap partner checked out my profile and noticed that I have a bit of a thing for shoes. This is her interpretation of my fixation on footwear which makes me laugh every time I look at it.

For the love of shoes.

Thanks postal service and my swapping partners, your parcels were a great treat to return home to.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! BRING ON 2009

Happy New Year to all!

2009 will be a simpler year as I try to declutter my life and take on less stress. However I believe that we will have a great year doing our thing in the Tropical Far North!

Hope 2009 is kind to everyone else