I buy the largest cutting mat when I find a sale and cut it to fit smaller dies. The circle and hex dies I may not want to cut but one size and the small cutting mats to fit just that size really makes the cutting easier. I don't pamper the Go and will use a regular rotary mat to cut more layers as the mat isn't as thick as the Go mats. I can buy another if I mess it up so don't do what I do, just saying it will take abuse and keep on going.

Did I understand you to say you use your rotary cutting mat for the GO? What a good idea. How do you cut these down to size?

I use an old rotary cutting mat to cut more layers of fabric. Like I said I don't pamper my Go and have no care if it messes up so use your own judgement. I use tin snips to cut the mats.

I use mine for cutting the pieces that take the most effort on my part. Circles especially! It is so nice to get perfect circles every time no matter what size. At first I only had a couple dies, then gradually my collection grew and grew. Then I lost track of exactly what I had, so I put together a notebook with a sample cut out of each die and its number, so I could find it fast when I want it (and so I wouldn't buy it again by mistake). I also thought I would feel guilty every time I got a new die (since I was sure I would not use it all that often) Surprise, surprise!!! I use it all the time. No regrets here. One tip I learned on our board here is "if threads get stuck in the blades (and it bothers you) lay a thin piece cardboard (like card stock) down first, then your fabric, then the cutting mat". The layer of cardboard keeps the blades from holding on to the fabric fibers. Enjoy!

If you use the rag die you will be alarmed at the amount of strings being collected in the blade. You can spend a lot of time trying to pull them out or you can just let them alone. They will build up and be easy to pull out all at once. It won't hurt the blade or the dies. I have used my rag die this way for many rag quilts and never pull out the strings until they work themselves to the top in a bunch.

Good for you! I bought mine at the Road to CA a few years ago. Kind of felt guilty at first, but got over that quickly once I cut out my first quilt in a record time and all the pieces were the same size. The June Taylor Shape Cutter is nice but I have accidentally used the wrong slot more than once. That does not happen with my GO.

Enjoy it! Watch for the sales and before you know it you will have more dies than you thought possible. (I keep a list of them on my phone so I don't accidentally buy the same one twice.)