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.