Cleaning Your Cutting Mat

Our rotary cutting mats need cleaning, but most of us never bother to do it. They need moisture, believe it or not!  Here is a simple way to do it (check your mat manufacturer for their suggestions). Mine is a reversible, two-colored mat by Fiskers.

Before cleaning

After cleaning

I fill my tub with COOL (not cold) water 1/3 of the way, add 1/4 cup white vinegar, swish to mix, add the mat and soak each side of the mat 10 minutes. Some mats are oversized, so adjust it several times during the soaking process so all of it is wet. After the 20 minutes, take a SOFT brush (I bought a facial brush at my local dollar store) and gently rotate on the mat using a bit of Dawn detergent and this will loosen any remaining debris. Rinse with the same cool water, wiping as much of the water off of it as you can. Put down a towel and dry flat, flipping it every 1/2 hour or so until dry. Store FLAT.

I was shocked at how much lint came out in the water. Since most of the current mats are self-healing, that lint gets caught between the cuts. It's like having a whole new mat!

"Charity Quilt Block Challenge" Winners

Please check out the blocks submitted in the previous post. We now have the three winners of the 2016 contest:

For the $50.00 prize, each quilt block was issued a number as they were logged into my spreadsheet. I used a free random picker to choose a number between 1 and 300 and the winner was....

Generate  integers between  and   

#25

And the winning number is belongs to a block submitted by Callie Lavoie!

The $25.00 prize for the individual or chapter sending in the most blocks was 100 blocks by Lakeside Quilters.

And my favorite quilt block wins a $10 gift card...and the winner is:

Linda Throckmorton

Congratulations to those that participated in what I hope to be an annual event. 300 quilt blocks will make many quilts for those in need. And winners--be looking for your prizes in the mail!

Charity Quilt Block Challenge

Here are photos of the 300-12 1/2" quilt blocks collected by individual and chapters of the PTQG:

Pat Carmolli of Clamshell Quilters--6 blocks

 

Pat McMahon FOR In Stitches Quilters--6 blocks

Ella Ibarguen of Maine Mountain Quilters-10 blocks

Callie Lavoie of Evergreen Quilters-12 blocks

Diane Lufkin of Schoolhouse Quilters-10 blocks

 

Karen Mitchell submitted for members of Village Scrappers-81 blocks

 

 

Justine Strafford of Bear Paw Quilters-12 blocks

 

Margaret Chernosky FOR Common Notion Quilters-2 blocks

 

Colette DeSotto of Country Squares Quilters-9 blocks

 

Esther Libby submitted for members of Lakeside Quilters-100 blocks 

 

Lee Priest is a PTQG Floater-23 blocks

Linda Throckmorton of Downeast Quilters-20 blocks

 

Carole Pettinelli of Classic Quilters-9 blocks