For those who are interested, I finished a new book this past weekend at a demonstration in Toronto.
www.strangelittlegirl.com/books...1.html

www.strangelittlegirl.com/books...1b.jpg

The stitching for the "bird toes" is done by punching three holes into the board for each row of stitching along the spine. The top two "toes" and the bottom two toes share a middle hole.

To sew the book:
start with your needle inside the first signature.
push it out and go around the outside of the cover and into the first hole (the one closest to the spine)
go down through one toe and back through the hole closest to the spine (repeat for each of the toes)
now go back into the signature through the same hole you came out. but this time go on the other side of the board. move along to the next hole and repeat this stitching for each toe on the cover

add a new signature by doing a kettle stitch at each hole along the book. Basically: push your needle out of a hole, kettle stitch it to the previous section and put your needle back in the hole. A curved surgical or upholestery needle will help you immensely. Make sure to bring the thread back in after doing a kettle stitch so that none of it shows along the spine from the outside of the book.

When you get to the cover, attach it the same way you did the front cover. End on the inside of a signature and tie off using "half hitches" (loop your thread around one of the finished sewing loops and pull tight).

I know the directions will be hard to follow without diagrams, but I'm not sure my diagrams would make it any clearer. ;)