Thank you all! Yes, I have seen the Piece o' Cake videos online.

I'm sure there are plenty of good books out there, but I struggle with reading. I've found tons of videos on YouTube, National Quilter's Circle & CreativeBug. Each time I learn something new. Maybe I can see if I can get some of the quilting books on tape so I can listen to them & focus on the pictures rather than getting flustered with the reading.

I've thought about switching to silk thread & I may try it with my next quilt, but I really love doing everything in cotton. I've seen aging quilts with mix-and-match materials and it's not a pretty sight. Fortunately, Aurifil comes in something like 250 colors, so I'm sure I can find better matches -- just not by guessing based on a computer screen. I buy the little 200m spools in the 50wt & they last me forever for my applique work. Then, I get the larger spools for my quilting & go through one or more of those with every quilt.

They are tiny little pricks, but they're still visible. Perhaps that's the point. It just looks a little off when I have a thread that is a different shade than the fabric. It looks like there is a slight shadow surrounding the applique. Maybe it will be less obvious once it's washed. There seems like there's always an "Ugly Stage" for all my quilts where I get all panicky that it belongs in the trash, but I keep going & sure enough am surprised every time with how nice it turns out.


Thank you all so, so much for your input! I truly appreciate it & know my quilts will be better off for it. :)