Mats, cutters and rulers suggestions (for fabric)

[FancyALittle]

I recently started getting in to sewing and I'm keen to do patchwork and cut fabric more quickly and accurately.

I'm looking at rotary cutters, a cutting mat and a ruler. I don't want a small mat (as I can only see myself needing to upgrade swiftly) and wondered what people found best to work with?

Do you have any preferred stockists? I had a look at cotton patch - any experiences with them?

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions :)

Cotton Patch have been good but they are quite expensive compared with shows. Service is pretty good too.

Creative Grids are specialists in cutting stuff and mats.

I also have the Fiskars rotary cutter which I like but I find they are quite hard to get hold of - Olfa seem to have cornered the market since I got mine. Not that it matters too much once you have bought the cutter - most blades seem to fit most cutters regardless of make.

I would agree that shows are usually the place to go for bargains. There are several crafty ones this month actually. I don't know where you are but there is quite a decent quilt show in Farnham this month, also a general crafting show at Sandown Park. They are the local ones to me but I know there are others dotted around soon.

Thanks for the brilliant suggestions everyone - I didn't even realise there would be craft shows.

Will probably go for the Fiskars as it seems to come highly recommended. I'm a metric child, but it seems lots of patchworking comes in inches - another dilemma!

Thanks again for your replies.