First up was dealing with the pictures. I have done a number of photo transfer projects since I started quilting. I have used it both for elements in the quilt top and for labels (two examples of that can be seen here and here). For this project, I wanted to use a base fabric that was close to the background color of all the "toss" prints. Fortunately, project leftovers came to the rescue for that! I had some leftover Moda Aged Muslin (upper right in the photo below) that I had used for backing my Civil War Legacy quilt.
I cut the fabric into slightly larger than letter size rectangles (to allow for shrinkage) and prepared it with Bubble Jet Set which allows it to accept the printer ink for the photo transfers:
...then it has to dry (it doesn't take very long).
After the fabric dries, it is ironed onto freezer paper so it will be able to be put through my printer.
While waiting for the fabric to dry, I searched for pictures of iconic Western characters/actors and downloaded them to my computer. I used Picasa 3 to alter the pictures. Although it's no longer supported by Google for use in Blogger, I still have the Picasa program on my computer and sometimes use it to organize my picture files. In Picasa, I was able to color all the pictures in "Sepia" tones (to coordinate with the fabric prints) and applied a photo effect to them called "1960". Then I loaded the altered photos into a word processing program and set them up to print two to a page.
Initially I had some issues getting the images sized right (I needed them to finish at 4-1/2") and also quickly found out that printing in Sepia takes ALOT of yellow ink and mine started running out as I got to the last few pages of pictures so the color on some were streaky. I got more ink and eventually figured out how to get the pictures to print exactly the size I needed them. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the muslin left to redo all the pictures I needed to correct. Also, after conferring with DH, I decided to go with a different picture of Clint Eastwood (I'll be using one from "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" instead).
So I've had to order more Aged Muslin. I had looked around at the online offerings of some shops local to me but no one had Aged Muslin listed in their stock. In the past, if I need what is considered "Civil War Reproduction" fabric, I do better finding it online. I had originally ordered what I had from Fabric.com but that was four years ago and they no longer carry it. At the time that I ordered from them, the color I got from them was called "Tan" and I went by that when I re-ordered from someplace else. However, what I received was much darker.
I believe the issue has to do with a change in the color designations and dye lots. Most of what I saw online in various places that was called "Tan" was much darker than what I had started with. Also complicating things is now Moda has another lined of colored muslins called "New Age Muslins". So I've done a second order, this time going by the look of the color on screen which in itself can be a bit of a crap shoot. I've ordered two colors, "Cream" and "Beige" that onscreen look closer to what I had and I hope that one of them will work.
While I wait for the new fabric to arrive, I've cut out the pictures that printed okay and sewed them to their respective strips and strip sets and have sewn together strips for vertical sashings and the top and bottom borders.
This past week, I used the break from working on the gift project to work on Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt and to continue work on last year's while waiting for the new fabric to come. Since I'm now past my original finish deadline (but now very glad I started as early as I did), once the new fabric arrives, it'll be back to work on this project as my priority. I'd like to be able to get this in the mail by the early postal service holiday shipping deadline which is December 14. We'll see if that happens!
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