Vancouver 2010 - Olympic Champion from my hometown: Giuliano Razzoli!

Sorry this is a non-stitching post...but let me say how I am proud in this moment!
Not only Italy won its only (sob) gold medal..but the winner, Giuliano Razzoli, comes from my hometown, Reggio Emilia! Exactly from Villa Minozzo, a little village on the mountains, just a few miles far from where my boyfriend was born.
So yesterday evening we hurried home from a fundraising dinner for Democratic Party to see the 2nd manche of the Olympic slalom, after seeing the 1st manche in the afternoon. And Razzoli won!

The last Italian gold medalist in an Olympic winter competition was the great Alberto Tomba (he's from a city, Bologna, which is about 80 km far from where I live).

He won in Albertville, on February 27th 1992, and he got the silver medal in Lillehammer on February, 27th 1994. Yesterday was...February 27th 2010! And 27 is my lucky number too!
Tomba and Razzoli are close friends now, and surely Tomba gives Razzoli many good advice to win. Yesterday Tomba, who was in Vancouver, was crying when Razzoli won, and it was so great to see him so happy

But...we have another Olympic champion in Reggio Emilia, Stefano Baldini.
He's from the village where I live, Castelnovo di Sotto, and he won the Olympic Gold Medal for winning the Marathon in Athens 2004.
In this picture I am with Stefano Baldini after he came back from Athens, and in our village we celebrated him.

Reggio Emilia city of Champions!
I think I could try to win an Olympic medal too, if only cross stitch was an olympic sport!

have a joyful sunday you all
Sara

it's Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow....again :)

Hi again!
Another block is done, this is from Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow, block VII. I loved stitching this one, even if the snow, stitched with Thread Gathered silk "Mint Frost" was tooo long!


This is my Christmas at HRH situation..two blocks done, ten blocks to go...it's a long long road...!


Last saturday I went to a stitching and crafts fair, in Bergamo, there was a lot of good stuff, but this was the one I loved best.
Those are Nicoletta Farrauto's works, ( http://niky-nikyscreations.blogspot.com/ ) aren't just beautiful? I loved them on her blog, but seeing them finished...wow, that was awesome.






Nicoletta's works were hosted at "Point de Marque" stand, which is a needlework shop located in Milan (http://pointdemarque.com)
Look here, those are other wonderful stuff of them



I also met Livia of Rovaris, www.rovaris.it , I did not talke pictures but go and visit her site, she has wonderful charts and other things!

and...this has nothing to do with stitching, but I just want to share...I found those earrings this morning..I thin I will not wait until the 4th of July to wear them!


Have a nice day, or evening!
For me it's evening, time to stich and watch some politics on tv!!
Sara

Rain rain go away...

...rainy morning here. Hot cup of tea needed urgently!

I have finished BBD "Three stockings for February" last week, but I forgot to post them here. Here they are!


I really love stitching & finishing those stockings. Between February ones, I loved especially the birdie one. For the alphabet one I have used a hand dyed thread by me



I am about to start stitching some BBD Halloween stockings too. There are 13 stockings in the booklet, so I think it is better to start stitching some every now and then just to be ready for Oct.31st :)

In the meantime I have started with hand dyeing some threads with Halloween colours and I will use them for my stockings. Just have to think about the fabric!

Have a nice day you all,
in stitches
Sara

Hawk Run Hollow...more Shores

Two posts in a day, but don't get used to it :)

I finished another block of Shores of HRH, i loved stitching it, especially the little tiny crab!



And this is the situation of my three HRH... my personal challenge with myself is to stitch those three and upcoming Autumn at HRH within 2010...



Now I am about to start block VII of Christmas at HRH, then I'll have two of each ready, and will start again from block III of the Village of HRH.
The thing I love best of those charts is that, even if they're BIG (and oh - they are!) you can be satisfied seeing finished block by block, some kind of puzzle you can't wait to be finished!!

Oh, and about Autumn at HRH, you can now see the finished piece prewiew on Kathy Barrick blog. It is a BLAST! Nashville market is just around the corner...so keep needle warm!

....and last but not least...HAPPY PRESIDENTS DAY to all my american friends!

In stitches,
Sara

My Valentine

I am not a "romantic" person as we commonly think about "romantic". But in certain occasions I turn sweet and this is the result:





For DB and I, Valentine's day is important because 12 years ago was a very special day for the two of us. That's why I love to celebrate this day.

I stitched Tanya's "My Everything" (www.thesamplergirl.com) over one, on a white linen, with a red thread hand dyed by me (I called this thread "Valentine").
Then I added some sweet chocolate and then wrapped all up.

Hope your Valentine was as good as mine, shared with your loved ones: husbands, boyfriends, girlfriends, sons, daughters, friends, pets, whatever!

In love and stitches,
Sara

...while snow fall outside...

back at Hawk Run Hollow..and a beautiful exchange received!

First block of Shores of Hawk Run Hollow is finished..I love it!
It is made with DMC threads except for sea colour which is the recommended Needlepoint silk colour. I didn't find a DMC colour similar to the Needlepoint one that satisfied me :)



This is the LHN exchange received from Cecile in Belgium,http://cecilevf.canalblog.com/ ...isn't this little bag wonderful? I really love it, and I am using it to keep all my HRH fabrics in it! Merci beaucoup, Cecile!!



I'm almost done with second block of Shores of HRH, because I have started it while I was waiting for the silk thread to finish the first one.

And...I am sure most of you already checked Kathy Barrick's blog with the prewiew of some blocks of Autumn at Hawk Run Hollow which will be released at Nashville Market later this month. But if you missed it, don't forget to visit http://kathybarrick.blogspot.com/ . I can't wait to have the chart!

In stitches,
Sara

Last finishes for January

Oh my, I can't believe it's February already!
But it is, and Phil the Groundhog this morning predicted six more weeks of cold winter. And it's not hard to belive, God, we are freezing in those days!

But stitching warms my heart, at least.



Those are my last fnishes for January: all Christmas finishes!!
"Snow Day" is a pattern of Tanya, The Sampler Girl. I have stitched it one over one with a dark blue 32ct. linen.

"Deer Stocking" is a pattern that Nicoletta Farrauto of Niky's Creations featured in Nov. 2009 issue of "The Gift of Stitching"
Those two are a part of my very own personal SALpin 2010.

And last but not least, for the Bride's Tree Sal ( http://bridestreesal.blogspot.com/ ) I stitched the very cute chart that Diane of Little House Needlewors designed for us members of LHN CCN Yahoo! group. I have turned it more Christmassy, even because I have stitched it on a Lurex Zweigart linen :) Bride's Tree SAL theme for Jauary was "House",so I thougt it was perfect, isn't it?




This is the month of February from Little House Needleworks. I love those colours, aren't they lovely?

All for now, time to go to bed here in Italy.
Be cozy, in stitches
Sara