I do all my cutting out of quilts in hotel rooms. I travel about 3 days per week for my job. The desks in hotels are great for setting up a cutting mat. I use a 9 x 12 Omni folder which has a cutting board on one side and an ironing board on the other. Put each square in a ziploc so when you get home to sew it is all organized. Also doing fusible web for appliques is good because all hotels have an iron. Then when I get home I can sit right down to sew without the hassle of cutting anything.