Geeky Bobbin

Reminders: it's ok to process your feelings through craft. It's ok to make things that are imperfect. It's ok to take a break from your craft. It's ok to take a break from social media. It's ok to not be ok.

Sending love and peace to all those taking care of their neighbours, their families, and themselves in the best way they know how.

Image description: a quilted tissue box cover made to look like a green dumpster full of puffy black trash bags and yellow and orange flames. Tissues emerge from the center of the flames, like smoke. Bright colored quilting imitates graffiti letters and numbers, including the word "grief", spelled incorrectly, scratched out, then spelled correctly.

Say hello to Galactic Vortex: A star quilt with BIG swirly blocks that makes BIG quilts fast, in King, Queen, and Throw sizes

For years, every time I did a trunk show, I knew I would get this question about my bestselling Vortex and Arctic Vortex patterns:

"Is it jellyroll friendly???"

For both Vortex and Arctic Vortex, the answer was No.

The longer answer, which I almost never gave, was that I considered designing Vortex with 2½" strips when I first created it back in 2019, but that resulted in VERY large blocks, and a lot of left over waste. As the kids say, the math wasn't mathing.

Fast forward to some time last year, when I was working on a different design for a strip-based quilt, trying to make sure that I made optimal use of WOF strips, and it made me wonder: WHAT IF I made a jelly roll friendly version of Vortex? How many rounds of strips can you get using a 40-ish" x 2½" starting point? And how big of a quilt would that make?

Y'all, the resulting spreadsheets and formulas would make you scream, either in delight or in horror, depending on how you feel about spreadsheets.

The results were absolutely delightful, and thus was born Galactic Vortex!

Similar to its smaller siblings, it has a big center diamond that's perfect for fussy cutting larger prints. It also features step-by-step full-color diagrams, coloring pages, and plenty of tips!

geekybobbin.com/galactic-vortex

Happy to be working on this quilt again 🥰 it's been in time-out for wayyyyyyy too long

🌪️ Jelly roll
🌪️ Fussy cutting
🌪️ Big blocks
🌪️ Fast finish

Galactic Vortex quilt pattern is coming sooooooonnnnn!!

An hour's berry picking? Or quilt inspiration?

Some quilt coat inspiration, if you're planning now for your Fall wardrobe!

A crowd favourite from the 2024 WOW Show, Walkin' Wardrobe sees a cheeky trio of geometric garments come to life on stage 🖤🤍💙💛🩷 Designer Laurel's enduring fascination with black and white (with a pop of colour, of course!) found the perfect match in the Geometric Abstraction section. Crafted mostly from NZ wool, which the designer knitted into different patterns and shapes, then combined with felt, coreflute, foam and paper. 🏆 Winner, Geometric Abstraction Section, 2024 Competition Garment Credit: Walkin' Wardrobe, Laurel Judd, New Zealand

"Can I turn this quilt top into a dress?" 2 hours before I need to leave... That's enough time? Who's going to #QuiltCanada2025 today? #quiltyfriendsarethebest #Quilter #canadianquilter

Had a great time sharing my quilts with the Chatham-Kent Quilters' Guild last week!

Cutest cat snoozing on the cutest quilt 😻