A Little Nostalgia

Last week before we left on our trip to St. Louis, I spent a day or two playing with TAP artist transfer paper.  This product is similar to other iron-on transfers in that you can print your digital images on it.  However, this one can be ironed on to other materials than fabric.  It claims you can transfer to wood, metal, and glass.  I produced several transfers of my photographs on to white cotton, white silk, gessoed canvas, and untreated canvas board.  All were very successful and printed perfectly with no change in hand.  The only exception was the canvas board.  Perhaps if I had continued to iron a little more.  The image was just a little scratchy on the board, but I am using it to make a collage.

The collage above features a photo of my grandmother Polly and her sister back in the days of horse and buggy.  I used coffee-stained laces and a pin-tucked shirt with lace and bows that was also coffee-stained.  This little piece smells good!  Cafe au lait!

I used a glue-stick to mount the photo onto a piece of canvas, and then just started adding lace and trim until I liked the look.  I used some of the decorative stitches on my sewing machine, and also added a few touches of hand embroidery, silk flower petals, and buttons.  The word Joy is made by painting with acrylic paint over adhesive scrapbook letters that I stuck on black fabric.  I'm not sure the text exactly matches the nostalgic look, but I wanted a little contrast to all the beige and natural tones.

After fraying the edges of the canvas by picking out threads, I made a backing by fusing fabric to a piece of Timtex, turning under the edges, and stitching to the front.  I would advise being sure that you do not want to embellish further before attaching the backing.  It is not easy to stitch through the stiff layers of interfacing and fabric, especially by hand!

This little piece is 7.5 inches square.

I am on the last border of a custom quilt I have been working on a long time, so will try to have pics of it soon.  Another little accident slowed me down a bit.  I was weeding the garden on Sunday afternoon when I tripped over a shovel and fell face down in the yard.  After that I spent the afternoon applying ice packs to my black eye and wondering if I should go to the ER.  I decided I did not have a concussion, but I do have quite a shiner!