Q: Restore a file from Time Machine

OS X Yosemite: Restore items backed up with Time Machine

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH18837

About Time Machine local snapshots - https://support.apple.com/HT204015

"When you use Time Machine on a Mac notebook computer, Time Machine saves some of its backups to your startup drive.

Your Mac notebook computer might not always be near your Time Machine backup drive, so Time Machine also saves some of its backups to your startup drive. These local snapshots are automatically enabled when you turn on Time Machine, and disabled when you turn Time Machine off. One daily snapshot is saved every 24 hours, beginning from the time you start or restart your computer. One weekly snapshot is saved every week. "

Have you tried using the Time Machine application?

Also see this discussion. Look at the last page.

Recovering unsaved word doc on OSX