Ninja Squirrel Sampler progress

Just a bit of progress to show today! I've been working on the Ninja Squirrel Sampler* the past few days, and am progressing nicely on the border.

I originally was going to stitch this entirely in Hand-Dyed Fibers, but the mystery spool I was using for the outline of the flowers had some really pale spots that got washed out. So, I found a skein of Soie d'Alger in my stash that was the perfect color.

Then, when I went to stitch the middle of the light reddish-brown flowers, the HDF skein I had picked ended up being too dark, and the flower outline got lost. Back to the stash again! After comparing silks on hand to the DMC color called for in the chart, I ended up using a color of Splendor that's just a bit pinker than the DMC, but I think it works.

The Soie d'Alger is just a bit thicker than the Splendor or HDF, but it works for the outline. Some people wonder if they can mix brands of silk flosses in the same project. Here's a case for saying you can! If the right color of Splendor hadn't turned up, I was going to resort to plain old DMC cotton, and I probably wouldn't have had a problem with that, either.

As a reminder, the poll (on the right side of this web page) expires in just a few days. Please let me know what types of posts you like to see! Thanks!

*For background on the Ninja Squirrel Sampler, see the last few paragraphs of this post.