Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Major Melt Down

I finally began taking things out of my car on Tuesday and this is what I found . . .


Yep, my new - purchased in September - cutting mat had melted and curled.  It's all my fault for being lazy and not getting it out when I got home Sunday.  Then leaving it in the car for two more days!  This mat is just the right size for my little table that sits between the ironing board and the sewing machine.  Now, I am going to have to use some birthday money and get me another one.  I downloaded a coupon from Hobby Lobby today so it won't cost as much as this one cost.  It was the first cutting board I have purchased in over 15 years.  The only reason I bought it was that I had totally worn out both sides of a similar size cutting board, just before leaving for quilt retreat at Ceta Canyon.  I purchased it at a quilt store on the way up there and paid a little extra, but it has been perfect the past 7 months.  until now. . . I tried straightening it out and it is a bit on the hard side like it has baked into this position.  Oh, well.   I guess I will go ahead and replace my other cutting board this week also.  It stays in my garage and is my traveling board.  I don't have a picture, but it has some major cracks on the sides where I roll it a bit to go into my rolling cart.  It also has some chunks out of it where those cracks have dried out and cracked some more.  It is also a little bit warped from traveling in the car so much.  Needless to say, I am hard on my cutting boards, but I usually put up with a little warping and cracks since I know it is all my fault they are the way they are. 

By the way, the reason I replaced my old small board?  The plastic/board was coming off onto my fabric.   I had cut so many times in the same place that I had little bitty grooves in the self-healing board.  I apparently was cutting the walls of the grooves off and creating ditches.  I turned it over and the same thing happened on the other side.  So, good bye to board number one and now, board number two.  : (

3 comments:

  1. you might be able to fix it before shellin out for a new one.

    use a hair dryer to get it wram/hot again. stack a bunch of heavy books on it and let it 'cure' that way for a couple of days...

    i had one warp, not curl, and i ironed it (beware the smell) and put weights on it and let it set for a day or two and it was okay...

    couldn't hurt...

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  2. but then, you might want an excuse to get a new one....Joann's is in the middle of their big Daffodil Sale and all rotary mats are 50% off....

    okay, i'll stop being creepy and go away :)

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  3. thank you Shannon. I tried rolling it out and have a tub sitting on top of it. I will take the blow dryer to it - or better yet - the hot gun from my rubber stamp closet - and see if that works. Joann's sale sounds great, but the closest one is 150 miles away, so can't do that. Thanks. and you are not being creepy. I love to read the comments.

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