QuiltCon 2015: Day 1

I made it to QuiltCon! I really should be sleeping, as I woke up at 3:00am PST to make it to the airport for my 6:00am flight, but I want to record a few things about the day before forget.

1) My new Fernando Volken luggage is awesome and received many compliments. After twenty years with the same suitcase, it was time to move on and I couldn't be happier!

I was one of the first to get one of the coveted Fancy Fox buttons from Elizabeth Hartman!

2) The day was like a snowball of quilting friends that started when Jo-Anne (juicyredbee) joined me on my flight to San Francisco. Then, Magdalena, a former VMQG member, found us in the SFO airport and it turned out she was on our flight to Austin. Elizabeth Hartman was also on our flight and immediately shared her awesome buttons! Check-in at the hotel, QuiltCon registration and the Canadian Meet Up were just more chances to see familiar faces and meet new friends!

Hello, Austin!

I loved the view from my room on the eighth floor! Hello rowers!

3) We arrived in Austin around 4:30pm CST and ran into Kristen, Terry & Janet at the baggage claim! At the hotel, my kind roomie Debra had brought Florida oranges. I also got to finally hug Lee, chair of the Leadership Conference Committee. Pin swapping has begun!

A blurry but happy group of quilters at registration. (Krista, Janet, Krista, Terry, Felicity, and Kristen)

4) Registration was cool, they just took your name and automatically printed your name tag with your schedule conveniently located on the back! Haven't even had a chance to look at my goody bag yet, but I'm excited to read the copy of Uppercase magazine in there (yay for Canadian content!). So many familiar faces at registration! Uber-busy Elizabeth Dackson and Alissa Haight Carlton zipped past. Met friends from Seattle and Portland who I've gotten to know through our PNW MQG meet ups. Ended up going to dinner with Jenn (pinkbrain_here) and Denise (walked out of Crave after 15 minutes with no service, but had a yummy Thai dinner).

5) The Canadian Meet Up! I organized this event along with Jaclyn, Joanne, and Alison. About 40-45 Canadians (and ex-pats, and a few Aussies, and one woman from Colorado who we let in because she had French on her sweater!) met up in the lounge at the Radisson. We had prizes kindly donated from several Canadian shops. Amy (amyscraftyshenanigans) was our mascot in a Canadian flag cape. Unfortunately, some folks had travel delays and weren't able to make it, but we look forward to seeing them soon!

A few pics from the meet up:

The Calgary MQG Contingent

 Paula, Linda, Kristen, Amy, and James

Lots of connections were made! It's fun to meet people who you know online, especially friendly quilters!

Ok, it's time to rest and get ready for the first official day of QuiltCon!