As far as I know there is no "cheating" in binding or any other quilting process. YOU are the artist and you have the right to do it any way you wish. We all need to keep an open mind about how we do things. I have discovered a lot of things that make quilting easier and just as good that I would never have thought of on my own. So somebody comes up with a new way to do something, great, let me try it. Some of these ideas are real winners. In binding you can use separate strips, straight of grain or bias, turn the front to the back or turn the back to the front. It's still bound and the purpose is to cover the raw edges. Quilt on!