I am making a mini quilt that has many 1.5" HS and QS triangles. I was lucky to purchase a June Taylor ruler designed especially to cut these when it was on sale with an additional 20% off at JAF. It works for squares that are in 1/2 inch increments. The regular shape cutter works for squares that are in even inch increments. It sure beats tearing the paper off of triangles pieced with tangles. As for the rotary mat, I have one, but a small mat works just as well.