Priscilla Hill's blog

A Week in the Outer Banks!

2008-11-03T13:34:00.002-05:00

I had a wonderful week in the Outer Banks with several ladies in my subdivision. Here are a couple of group shots - very Outer Banks tourist shots, aren't they? We are at the Lighthouse at Cape Lookout (but couldn't climb it because they were in the midst of repainting it; one of the perils of going off season). The othe is at the Right Brother's Memorial at Nag's Head.

A Day in Rodanthe

2008-11-03T13:30:00.002-05:00

Do you recognize this house? It was the one used in the movie "A Night in Rodanthe." It's actually in Avon which is next to Rodanthe, but it really is a REAL house. I walked in the same spots as Richard Geere! Unfortunately it has been condemned and will be gone with the next hurricane.

Me as a SHRIMP!

2008-11-03T13:26:00.002-05:00

One must do something silly while at the beach! We were in Nags Head and found a couple of cutouts to stick out head through - so of course we did.

The group at Jockey's Ridge

2008-11-03T13:21:00.002-05:00

This is the group of ladies from my subdivision that I spent a week with at the beach. We have just finished running to the top of Jockey's Ridge. JoJane stayed back at the cottage and Karen is taking the picture. Back row, left to right: Frances, Jo, Connie, Cheryl, Lynn, Kathleen, and Pat. Front row: Marilyn and Priscilla (because we can still kneel down and get back up on our own).

Dolphin puzzle completed...

2008-11-03T13:17:00.002-05:00

Four days, thirteen people, and a thousand piece puzzle with only one small picture and no dimensions given. The puzzle was from a yard sale, so we didn't even know if all the pieces were there. They wee, and here is the result!

Outer Banks!

2008-11-03T13:11:00.003-05:00

On this vacation I actually wore a bathing suit! Of course I am taking this picture and did not appear on my blog in a bathing suit... Kay, Sharon, Pat, Frances, and Marilyn would kill me if they knew this picture ended up on the internet!

Mom Turns 90!

2008-11-03T13:07:00.002-05:00

Thom and I went down to Burlington, NC last week to celebrate mom's 90th birthday (October 25th). I took a Dulce de Leche cake for her. The kitchen staff lit the candles (actually only one per decade) then brought it out carrying fire extinguishers and sang happy birthday.

A Memorial

2008-10-08T11:07:00.003-04:00

Thom's mother, Helen Hammond Hill, passed away on October 2, 2008. She was 91 years old. A beautiful memorial service was held at Glenaire Retirement Village where she lived for the last eight years. It was a joyful occasion, as she is now reunited with her husband of 58 years, Louis.

Life goes on!

2008-10-08T11:01:00.003-04:00

These are pictures of my grand-nephew, Louis. He is named after Thom's father. At the memorial service for Helen, we snapped a great shot of Grandmother Irene (Thom's sister) and Grandpa Josh holding the next generation. One life goes and another carries on!

Car Fire

2008-10-08T10:48:00.004-04:00

One Friday morning we got an alarm that there was a car fire in our subdivision. We raced out and found the car fully engulfed. Thom drove engine 43 and Engine 4 came from downtown Black Mountain. We put the fire out with foam, but as you can see there was nothing left of it. The cause of the fire? Mice had built a nest under the hood and when the nest and all their winter food provisions got hot the car burst into flames.

What's blooming on October 1st?

2008-10-08T10:44:00.005-04:00

Morning Glories!!

and

Nasturtiums!

BookOpolis - September 26, 2008

2008-10-01T10:42:00.003-04:00

The 2008 BookOpolis show at Bookworks in Asheville, NC was wonderful this year. The next several posts show some of the books and the Interlude Editions Fundraiser for the year. To the left is one of my favorites in the show - Girl in the World. Enjoy the next few psots showing some pictures from the show!

2008-10-01T10:39:00.002-04:00

This was the book that evoked the most emotion in me - Letters Never Sent to Evelyn. Pictures were used from an old typing textbook and a college yearbook from the 1930's.

2008-10-01T10:36:00.001-04:00

Here is the wonderful book made by my friend Clara. I wish you could see it in person! it is full of color, texture, and oh yes, LAYERS!!

2008-10-01T10:28:00.002-04:00

Bookworks sponsored a series of little books to raise money for Interlude editions. One of the books is by Lisa Blackburn (can you believe she made 30 of these??). A "home" for the books, made by Sandy Webster, was created. Chances were sold and the winner was Phil Diehn, Gwen's husband. Gwen had an edition in this 2008 series.

2008-10-01T10:27:00.000-04:00

This is another of Carol Norby's wonderful tunnel books that she entered into BookOpolis!

BookOpolis

2008-10-01T10:22:00.002-04:00

Here are two books by Annie Cicale that were in BookOpolis.

Slow Book Salon show in Burnsville NC

2008-10-01T10:21:00.001-04:00

My pictures aren't nearly as good as Clara's, so please vist her website @

http://www.ashevillebookgirl.blogspot.com/

2008-09-09T13:10:00.002-04:00

The weekend of September 6th and 7th, sis-in-law Irene came up from Raleigh to take another class with Gwen Diehn - this time learning to make paints from clay and other minerals that we we collected in the area. It was supposed to be an adult/child combo. so I guess I was he child. We got about 6 colors from gray to black to green to several shades of red. It won't be that expensive to do in the future.

A view from the gardens

2008-09-09T13:06:00.001-04:00

Fall in Asheville! Flowers at the Biltmore house! I love living here!

Biltmore House

2008-09-09T13:00:00.002-04:00

We have a yearly pass to Biltmore. Thom and I love to walk the trails and visit the flower exhibits. This one opened last week. It's called a carpet of flowers and is based on a patterned rug inside the Biltmore house. As you can see, there is lots of maintenance going on all the time, but isn't it a beautiful view?

Catching Up!

2008-09-09T08:23:00.003-04:00

Friends Natalie and Jim got married in Austin, Texas on August 16, 2008. I have known Natalie for over 10 years and I am so glad she found a wonderful man to share her life with.

Thom at Work

2008-09-09T08:17:00.003-04:00

I love these two pictures of Thom! They were taken by Craig Bannerman who is the deputy fire chief in Black Mountain. They were doing a day of pump testing at Lake Tomahawk. You can see the reflection of the water in his sunglasses.

A Visit from Cindy and Mary

2008-08-29T13:09:00.003-04:00

Cindy came over from TN on Tuesday afternoon and Mary Stori (who I met through Cindy) came over Thursday for a visit and a wonderful girl lunch at the Veranda in Black Mountain. Mary showed us her latest work. She is a remarkable beader who teaches all over the country and creates artwork on wool. Here are two of her latest - the link to her blog is in my list to the right if you want to see more of her work.

A surreal book trip

2008-08-19T15:54:00.002-04:00

Sis-in-Law, Irene from Raleigh (r), joined me in Asheville to take a workshop at Bookworks taught by Gwen Diehn (l). We wrote a poem based on some watered down acrylic colors we splashed on some Arches text weight paper. Then we manipulated the text, separated the sentences, and wrote a poem. We chose a layout, designed a book, and typeset it. Each person received two bound copies of the poem. As soon as I stitch it into the book I will post it on my blog.

Pages of my mica book

2008-08-19T15:47:00.002-04:00

I made another mica book for the Slow Book Salon's Burnsville show. It hosts writers and poets and invites us to participate with books. The theme for this year is "The Beloved Community" and I did a theme book. A poem was also written - but only a few people did a book to go along with the poem. I used names for groups of animals to correspond to the beloved community of people.

Second Caught in Canvas Book

2008-08-19T15:32:00.003-04:00

After our initial marathon weekend of painting and making caught in canvas books (see previous post) I finished a 5 x 7 canvas photo album called "WE" I have entered it into the Slow Book Salon Burnsville show September 12 - 14.

Pipe Organ Journal

2008-08-19T15:28:00.001-04:00

This is my own personal journal ( finally filled up my last one) called "Pipe Organ" because of the decorative stitch along the spine. Unfortunately it doesn't show up in this picture.

What's blooming in my garden on August 1st?

2008-08-01T14:04:00.002-04:00

It's hot here (comparatively) in August and many of my flowers stop blooming. The pictures of the Stargazer Lilies show them a little past their prime, but the Morning Glories are in full bloom. They are shriveled and dry by noon, but have a brand new set of blooms every morning!

Warning to those afraid of snakes-

2008-07-30T20:50:00.002-04:00

Here are the pictures of the great Laurel Ridge Rattlesnake Round -up. This pretty girl was spotted several times sunning herself on the upramp of the Black Mountain Fire Station #3. Here is a close-up of her rattles and a view of her home.

2008-07-30T20:43:00.002-04:00

You can see how close to the firehouse the snake lived. She wasn't afraid of people, but we had to relocate her for her safety and ours. After her capture she will be released at the head of the Catawba River and will have plenty to eat. Timber Rattlers are protected and are not supposed to be killed.

2008-07-30T20:40:00.002-04:00

It's almost time to capture the snake. Can you believe I am standing so close to the rocks? I got to hold the flashlight. I am setting my camera to take a picture when they catch the snake, but I got so excited I forgot to snap the picture.

Our Rattlesnake

2008-07-30T20:17:00.002-04:00

This is the picture of the the Timber Rattlesnake that lived in the rocks next to our firehouse. Isn't she a beauty? She has eight rattles, which means that she has shed her skin eight times. If they eat well and are healthy, they can shed their skin several times a year.

2008-07-30T20:08:00.001-04:00

July 2008

2008-07-30T20:05:00.001-04:00

Here is the stitching we did on our canvas books. Look at the next two posts for more information!

Close-up of our Canvas books

2008-07-30T20:02:00.001-04:00

From left to right: Cheryl's, mine, and Karen's. It is amazing how each person went in an entirely different direction!

Canvas Bookmakers

2008-07-30T19:07:00.004-04:00

We're at it again! Cheryl drove over from Tennessee and Karen drove up from Georgia and we created some books using stretched canvases as the covers.

What we did on our summer vacation

2008-07-20T12:43:00.003-04:00

We hiked for five days - July 13-19, 2008 - with a group through the John C Campbell Folk School. Some hikes were on the Appalachian Trail and others on trails in Georgia and North Carolina. John Templeton, who hiked the entire Appalachian Trail four years ago, led our group. Enjoy the pictures of our vacation!

Micky as 'The French Broad'

2008-07-20T12:38:00.003-04:00

Robin Krupp from Asheville is a children's book illustrator and active in River Link. She designed this coat in her Surface Design class at John C Campbell Folk School July 13-19, 2008 showing the French Broad River. It is only fitting that Micky (Mireille Chazalmartin-Felenc) from Frnce would model it for her!

2008-07-20T12:34:00.002-04:00

Here are a few pictures from our vacation - a group shot in the Joyce Kilmer forest and two of the many butterflies we saw on our hikes

2008-07-20T12:26:00.003-04:00

This is Micky. She is French but is living part-time in Charlottesville, VA. This is a picture of her soaking her feet and legs in a stream after our first day of hiking to Blood Mountain on the Appalachian trail - a fairly uphill seven mile hike!

I'm a tree hugger

2008-07-20T12:23:00.003-04:00

Yep, it's official! I'm a tree hugger! This was taken on Day 2 of our hike in the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest. It is the first 'old growth' forest I have been in and could not believe how large the trees are.

Swimming at Mouse Knob

2008-07-20T12:17:00.003-04:00

Our Fellow Hikers

2008-07-20T12:06:00.004-04:00

A group shot at Siler Bald. Left to right: John Templeton, our leader in the blue shirt, Priscilla, Micky From France, (standing) Anne from California, Rebecca from Connecticut, and Thom.

2008-07-20T12:04:00.001-04:00

We came upon his car along the trail near Mouse Knob on the Snowbird river area of the Natahaila Forest. It looks very natural there, doesn't it?

Sometimes words aren't necessary

2008-07-20T12:01:00.001-04:00

Our Vacation - Hiking the Appalachian Trail

2008-07-20T11:53:00.003-04:00

Just like Gilligan's Island...

2008-07-20T11:35:00.003-04:00

... it started out as a three hour hike at 10 am on Thursday, July 3rd. At the top of the Brushy Creek Ridge we posed for a group shot. I am in the turquoise t-shirt between Boyce and Frances Tucker, Dwayne (aka wrong-way Jennings aka Magellean Jennings) is next, and Jim Cropper (in the orange safety T-shirt) photoshopped himself into the picture. Boyce, Frances and I backtracked our steps and got home six hours later. Dwayne and Jim were tracked down by the GPS on Jim's phone and brought home by the Fire Chief of Black Mountain Fire Department shortly after 7 pm. It was still a beautiful hike!

More BOOKS!

2008-07-05T08:45:00.003-04:00

Here is the cover from my Mica Book, another class taught by Dan Essig at Bookworks in Asheville, NC. This is my cover - a transparency covered with a thin film of natural mica. I used a jeweler's saw to cut the hole in the thick, manmade mica.

Hiking

2008-07-05T08:33:00.001-04:00

I can't believe I have abandoned my blog! Here is a picture of Cheryl, Frances and Kay after our hike with the Land Conservatory group.

Free Downloads

2008-03-10T08:52:00.002-04:00

Free St Patrick's Day Downloads at http://countdown.tentwostudios.com

Five books in Five Days

2008-02-24T13:51:00.004-05:00

Here are my five books in five days done at a Dan Essig Workshop at Bookworks in Asheville, NC. I actually got to use mica and papyrus as covers, an played with some absolutely fantastic papers from Cave Papers.

I'm happy, but very tired in this picture!

2008-02-11T16:22:00.000-05:00

Here are the pictures of my ATC holder I made for a swap. This will be in the mail tomorrow to Annie Mackay in the U.K.

The black outside was stamped with a bleach mixture, then the same stamp was used with VersaMark and brushed with Perfect Pearls. Pages wee sewn in with a pamphlet stitch and ATC holders were taped on every page.

Home Again!

2008-02-01T14:48:00.000-05:00

Two of the ATCs that I sent out for the JAM have returned home. The lady in the bottle ended up in Seattle,WA and the long haired beauty came home from Delaware. It's always fun to see where they end up and what ha been added to them...

Word and Image

2008-02-01T14:16:00.000-05:00

This week was my second class with Annie Cicale at Bookworks. It has stretched me quite a bit. First I learned to fold a book in a Wave to Shore fold. Then we studied Wabi-sabi - the uneven layouts of the ancient illuminated manuscripts and drafted our own page layout. I ended up with 16 pages, or eight double page spreads. I picked a poem that would fit into the space then worked within the wabi-sabi layout.

The poem is by poet Po Chu-I:

I look at my shadow

over and over

in the lake;

I see no white face

only the white hair

I have lost my youth,

and shall never find it again.

Useless to stir the Lake-Water.

I worked very quickly and there some things I would do differently, but overall I am glad I finished it. We will critique it on Tuesday night - YIKES!

Close up of Allen Mountain

2008-02-01T12:15:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of what we woke up to this morning. The entire Swannanoa Valley is covered under a sheet of ice. That is Allen Mountain in front of us. See the picture below for details!

Happy Day Before Groundhog's Day

2008-02-01T12:06:00.000-05:00

What an interesting first day of February! Our power went off at 5 am and came back on at 9:30 am. It seemed very strange until the clouds lifted about 10:30 am and we could see the mountain range again. In the foreground, you can see that we have NO ICE at 3500 feet, but in the distance many feet below us, Black Mountain (left) and Swannanoa (right) were covered!

Joe Walsh "One Day at a Time"

2008-01-20T21:07:00.000-05:00

Glue Resist Backgrounds

2008-01-20T13:08:00.000-05:00

Step 2 in the Background Noise Challenge in Next Generation Stampers is GLUE RESIST. Using PVA glue, I glopped, scraped and smooshed glue on different backgrounds. Here are some of my favorite results from the challenge, but there wasn't a loser in the bunch. Some will work better as ATC backgrounds with only smaller amounts showing through!

2008-01-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

These are examples of more glue resist. I stamped hearts dipped in glue on glossy paper. The lighter one was plain white to start with and the darker one was a leftover sheet brayered with warm colors from my shining stones technique. I did Direct to Paper on Both with the same Agean Blue Ancient Page dye pad

2008-01-20T12:58:00.000-05:00

Samples of the glue resist background noise challenge on different backgrounds.

Background Noise

2008-01-17T11:26:00.000-05:00

I have started my Background Noise Journal with my first entry. Here are the directions and samples of my Shining Stones from my earlier post.

Slow Book Salon

2008-01-17T11:11:00.001-05:00

I attended my first meeting of Slow Book Salon in Asheville, NC on Sunday, January 13, 2008. It was a book trade but since it was my first meeting I did not have anything to trade. BUT ... I did get to see some wonderful books! I thought I snapped lots of pictures of people and books, but when I got home I had two books on my camera. Must have gotten caught up in the excitement!

Gloria is by Gaetana Friedman It's a simple pamphlet stitch but filled with wonderful pictures and journaling she did on every page.

The coptic stitch book is a blank book created by John Harton. The cover is an example of his fantastic Paste Paper!

A Book in a Box

2008-01-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

A group of 7 people got together to make A Book in a Box at A Stamp Artist Place in Swannanoa, NC on Saturday, January 12th. Rajeania Snyder taught the class. Clara drove from Mills River , Cheryl from Knoxville, TN, and Kathleen from Mars Hill. Every book looked totally different. This is one I plan to make more of!

2008-01-13T10:58:00.000-05:00

Cheryl and Priscilla are smiling with finished books. Chloe the cat is peaking over Priscilla's shoulder; she's such a camera hog!

1.12.08

2008-01-13T10:46:00.000-05:00

Clara is almost finished with her book in a record time of 5 hours.

1.12.08

2008-01-13T10:44:00.000-05:00

Cheryl works on her book in a box

1.12.08

What is ATC JAM?

2008-01-04T10:50:00.000-05:00

Last year I began participating in ATC JAM, a three part round robin that has introduced me to new ATC makers from around the world. These are my Step One (three of each card) to be sent out to the next player. The 2nd person adds to all three cards and the third person does the same. The third person keeps one and mails the other two back to the 1st person. I usually send a new batch out when I return the originals. Would you like to play? Let me know in a comment. If you are in CCSwaps I have your address. If not, please email me your address privately.

Step 2

2008-01-04T10:43:00.000-05:00

This is what step 2 in the ATC Jam looks like. I added elements to the originals that came from France, and will pass the sets along to two new players. They will finish the set (keeping one for themselves) and return the other two cards to the original player.

ATC JAM

2008-01-04T10:34:00.000-05:00

These are the third and final stage of the ATCs ready to go back to their original owners in the state of Washington, USA and Ontario, Canada. I will include a new set with these to start the JAM all over again.

I couldn't wait...

2008-01-03T13:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I created several backgrounds using the Shining Stones technique. TODAY I made some ATCs to swap. One of my New Year's resolutions is to use some of the supplies I already have. I found this Stamp Francisco angel at a yard sale for fifty cents a few years ago. I bought the saying (Stamper's Anonymous) last year and today I used them both.

third attempt

2008-01-02T13:39:00.000-05:00

This is my personal favorite and the one I will put in my background journal. I took dye reinkers (Distress Ink Fired Brick and Ancient Page Stone Gray) along with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls and "smooshed" it between two plastic sheet protectors, closing the paper between it. More smooshing was involved! I spritzed it with water and smooshed it some more. When I lifted the plastic, this is what I got!

MAKE ART EVERYDAY is the theme of Next Generation Stampers - but I think my own personal theme will be MAKE ART EVERY WEDNESDAY. It's my day off and I plan to take at least an hour every Wednesday to do the assignments (as long as Trish doesn't overload us with homework)....

second attempt

2008-01-02T13:36:00.001-05:00

My second attempt, I took some of my paler shining stones pages and added alcohol inks to them The Perfect Pearls stood out a little more on this paper, even though they don't show up well on this scan.

first attempt

2008-01-02T13:31:00.001-05:00

This is my first attempt using the directions straight from the book. I was pretty happy with the outcome, but I wondered if I could get a darker image.

Paper Transformed

2008-01-02T13:11:00.000-05:00

For Christmas, Thom gave me a copy of Julia Andrus new book, Paper Transformed

It was even a signed copy!

On one of my Yahoo groups, NEXT GENERATION STAMPERS, our list mom Trish B gives us assignments out of the book. Our first assignment is on page 49, SHINING STONES, and I started this blog to post my experiments.

my opening blog

2008-01-01T19:04:00.000-05:00

It's January 1, 2008 and I am creating my blog. Now that I belong to Yahoo groups, I need a venue to show my art - so here goes!