Scott Thompson

sthompson@greatfallstribune.com

Want to know the postal code to Bali?

Big Sky Quilts owner Joyce Watson can tell you.

Vietnam? Check.

Romania? Yep.

Japan? You bet.

Watson has been shipping patterns and quilt kits around the globe after posting a photo of Helena quilter Billie Veerkamp’s minky labyrinth pattern quilt on Facebook about three weeks ago.

“Name a country, and I bet we’ve shipped there,” she said.

The post of Veerkamp’s work on Big Sky Quits’ Facebook page has been liked and shared about 3.75 million times.

“I didn’t know what viral was until this,” Watson said.

It’s made Veerkamp a celebrity of sorts.

“I went to the beauty shop to get my hair done,” Veerkamp said. “Everybody there knew I was a quilter, so one lady whips out her phone. ‘Look at this! My friend from West Virginia sent this to me,’ and I said, ‘That’s me.’”

The internet sensation started unassumingly enough.

Watson was at the doctor’s office and was bored waiting to be seen, so she texted Veerkamp for permission to put the photo of the quilt on social media. Veerkamp said yes, so Watson posted from the doctor’s office on her phone.

“And before I got back, the phones were ringing from all over the world. I didn’t know what to do,” she said.

And the orders of the pattern and kits started pouring in so fast and furious it became nearly impossible to keep up with the demand.

The U.S. Postal Service started sending a separate truck to Big Sky Quilts things were going so crazy, Watson said.

She said her postage bill for May was $18,000.

A little more than is usual?

“Oh yeah,” she said, laughing.

The reason for all the buzz is the labyrinth pattern appears three-dimensional and because people can’t believe Veerkamp could do the labyrinth pattern in minky, a fabric that is stretchy and temperamental to work with. She has been working a lot with it for the last six or so years.

“Billie’s taken it to a whole new level,” said Watson, who went on to explain that before Veerkamp started using minky, the fabric was used only on really simple patterns.

Veerkamp published a book on working with the fabric, “Minky Quilt Success,” that was selling well before all this. Now, it’s about time to do a second printing, and she has a second book at the publisher.

“You know how they say, ‘I became an overnight success five years later,’” Veerkamp said. “You didn’t see the five years before, but it’s OK. I’ll take it.

It’s been electrifying.

“It’s always fun to be struck by lightning at least once,” she said.

Is it standard to post the quilts on Big Sky Quilts’ Facebook page.

“No, but it is now,” Watson said.

Working with minky class

Where: Big Sky Quilts at 101 Central Ave.

When: Classes at July 15-16 and Aug. 19-20

How many: First 18 or so to sign up

Phone: 406-727-1757