Whew! thank you for that info. Your two cents is worth quite a bit. I sure wasn't looking forward to going over that piping with cotton thread. I did do some quilting in the past with nylon monofilament thread but decided that I liked "real" thread better, so hadn't used it much since then.
I'm looking at the photo of the quilt, and noticing those 4 applique corners further on, which also look like more than a month's worth to me. And also thinking that it's good that the swag border isn't further out, since that would make it longer!
I do like doing applique but it seems like most of my time off work is spent hunched over my magnifier Ott lite with a size 11 milliner's needle.
Kathy
Happy Easter