embroidery floss?

Do you stitch? My first craft was embroidery, taught by my grandmother. She gave me a little printed sampler in a small plastic hoop, and showed me a few stitches. I've always used the DMC floss, but sometimes I see samplers with really luscious, thick floss, and I'm wondering if people have recommendations. I saw a snippet from Teresa McFayden's blog, and am *so* imspired by her mixed media sampler. Time to dig out that hoop!