The Little Snap Dragon and smelly fabric

Ok so I had found a piece of what I thought (according to the listing, the pic was not good enough to tell) was 22 count Hardanger. And it would be a perfect size to stitch Rendezvous. And the whole thing cost $4.49. Well it was not 22-count Hardanger, it was 25-count lugana. While I do very much like 25-count lugana, I don't think I'll probably ever stitch on 25 over 1 again (with possibly, just maybe, the exception of maybe Dad's commissioned piece). Oh and plus . . . what a stench! Blech! So I sent the eBay seller a message saying hey, it's 25-ct lugana and it's very smelly, like cat pee or something, but I can wash it tho. So she replies saying she'll refund my money and to keep the fabric. Which - yay. So I was looking at my bookshelf (not thinking "oh what can I use the smelly fabric with once it's washed") and the first one I pull off is the Little Snap Dragon by Kustom Krafts. And lightbulb! This will be a perfect size piece!

But first . . . time to de-smell the fabric . . . far easier said than done! I'd been keeping it in the envelope it was mailed in, it was that smelly. Oh I did get that piece of 20-ct black lugana - no stinkiness - and have 2 projects in mind for that - the HAED SK Courage and a pattern of a mermaid with aqua green hair I got on eBay years ago (lots of confetti I think . . .). But anyway, back to the stinky. I washed it twice in cold water with my, well it's not soap, cleaning agent I guess to call it. It's this nifty stuff called Mountain Mist Quilt Wash. You never, ever should use Woolite - that leaves residue on your fibers. I've only ever had to wash 2 items in the 19 1/2 years I've been stitching, but I got a bottle so if I ever had to, I could. There's also something called Orvus, but I've never used that. And when I wash something like this, I swish it around and then let it soak for a while, at least 20 minutes. Ok . . . more like 3 hours because I forget to go back and take it out/change the water.

So . . . after 2 washes, you'd think that'd be nice and clean-smelling, right? Wroooooong! No it still smelled awful! So after consulting with Mom and finding out we did indeed have OxyClean, I decided to add some of that. I remember Grandma K used that on the hummingbird piece that my aunt's dog stole and stepped on it when I was still working on it for my other aunt. I don't remember how many washes, but she finally got it soooo light - and it's on the back - you could barely see it. Plus it did help that most of his paw print was in the border area which was not stitched, so it was covered by the frame. I got that same Hummingbird Society picture last year I think on eBay. So I combined the OxyClean with the MMQW . . . oh noes! Still somewhat smelly! Ack, cannot win! Tho now it smelled musty/moldy. So I took that darn piece of fabric and laid it out on the tub floor (it was clean) and sprinkled 2 whole scoops of OxyClean on the thing, one on each side, and scrubbed at it. Then after that soaking, I rinsed it really well and let it soak. Ok . . . is it good now?

sniff . . . sniff . . . nooooooo! Still smelly!

Dammit, I didn't want to use Febreeze . . . since one of the ingredients listed is perfumes. But at this point it was getting - ok already past getting - ridiculous! So I hung it up and spritzed the heck out of it! Then I let it dry. I went back and . . . almost the whole thing had no smell! There was just oooooonne little bit left. Febreeze bomb it!!!! Let it dry. sniff . . . sniff . . . omg . . . there is no smell. No smell?! Wooooooooo! So then I washed it one more time with the MMQW, rinsed/soaked it 2 more times and let it drip dry. Then it was time to iron it and it could then be a home for my Little Snap Dragon.

I think I earned that piece of fabric.

So after that whole debacle, you probably want to know what this Little Snap Dragon looks like?

This is what the Little Snap Dragon will look like:

It's sooo cute! I have a definite penchant for little, cute dragons! I think she'll kind of go with the little sad pink dragon (HAED SK Fragile that I submitted for the rewards program), he might like a friend.

This is how far I have gotten after a little over 3 hours of stitching.

Wow! Sooo much faster than a HAED! lol

So she'll be about 14 by 20 according to my calculations, perfect for this piece of fabric - 20 by 27 (well ish, some of the strands frayed off with all the washing). It won't matter tho if it's not exactly 3" around since I'm centering her. I'm stitching her on this piece of 25-count ivory lugana, stitched over 2 with 3 strands. Yes, I usually do stitch 25 over 2 with 2 strands, but I wanted a lot of coverage. I mean it wasn't bad with the 2, but I much prefer the 3 for this particular piece. Oh . . . I should have done 2 with 2 strands of blending filament! Never mind, I have already started her. Oh well. It's sooo funny to be stitching on 25 over 2 after having worked on Tannith for quite a while on 25 over 1 . . . these are HUUUUUUGE! I think I may see how long it takes for the dragon to be stitched before going back to Tannith. Don't worry, I'm not setting her down (and will still take her to work in case I actually eat lunch, I can work on her then), I just think that this will be sooo quick to stitch.