Playing With Fire -- Cape Cod Dogs

I've also been playing with fire on Cape Cod Dogs. Was anyone betting how long I'd be able to concentrate just on the basketweaved border background? I bowed to the lure of the rest of the canvas on the 4th of July by starting to stitch the window glass. I'd decided there were two ways to handle the view out the window: Either I'd stitch it in light coverage stitches with only one ply of silk or cotton, or I'd stitch the glass with clear Water N Ice and totally ignore stitching the details of the painted view themselves. I felt either route would make the view recede into the background where it belongs.

Being ultra lazy, I chose the Water N Ice route.

Step one was to find my cards of Water N Ice (done!) and step two was to choose a stitch. My first stitch choice was Byzantine as I thought the diagonal flow would look like reflections of sun on glass. I also thought the Water N Ice, which is a ribbon-like thread, would cover better on the diagonal.
http://www.barbarabergstendesigns.com/new_page_1.htm

However, as I worked I discovered two things. First, the holes between the rows of Byzantine stitch made a prominent pattern that detracted from the view itself and secondly, the Water N Ice frayed badly at the tail end that hangs out the needle's eye. I ended up using 8 inch lengths and still having to cut off 2 inches at the needle's eye because the thread was coming apart as I worked.

What to do? Short lengths didn't stop the fraying. My bottle of Frey Check was so old it was dried up, so in the trash it went, useless to stop the unraveling of my Water N Ice. I know some folks use burning tools to seal the ends of threads. (Frey Check and burn tools listed in this link.)
http://www.fashionribbonwear.com/cosmetics.html#fraycheck

I don't own such tools but I do have a wood stove. In other words, I've got MATCHES.

[At this point the nervous stitcher may want to hide under the couch. Or at least get a stiff drink!]

I cut off an eight inch length of Water N Ice, took it into the kitchen, stood over the sink and lit a match. After it burned a second, I blew the flame out and touched the hot end to the cut end of my thread. It sealed it a bit. I put the slightly melted end went through the needle's eye. Then I stitched. Usually I didn't have any unraveling after that. Of course touching the hot end of a match is a bit chancy. Besides the danger of being burned, one won't always seal the thread completely. Occasionally I did have some unraveling.

By the way, I am stitching the window using Irish Stitch from Stitches for Effect, page 37. This is a simple straight stitch over four threads. Then you skip a channel, stitch over four threads, skip a channel, etc. The second row you drop down two threads and do a series of over four straight stitches in the empty channels. Repeat these two rows endlessly and you'll have a nice plain stitch that I found let the painted canvas show nicely and added a window glass reflection to the canvas.

Hope you like the effect. You don't see the glassy shine in the photo but it is there. I've still got to finish the border, and I'll tackle that chore along with tent stitching the thin red line on the inside of the border next.

Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
Archived Yahoo 360 postings at http://profiles.yahoo.com/chillyhollow