Well I would like to say THANK YOU to the folks who said to give it a try. I picked up a cutter from Wal~Mart a couple days ago, along with a large mat. What a GREAT tool. No fighting with stretchy fabrics or straight lines with it. Just drop the straightedge and roll the way to freedom...
The pillow project was made MUCH simpler for the wife. She likes the cutter and took less then 2 minutes to lay out and cut all three panels of fleece she needed for her second pillow. That was after she did the first one in about 15 minutes.
The one I bought is a Kai 45mm and it has an automatic blade guard. It can be used in the left/right hand or vertical or any angle in between.