Vicarious QuiltCon 2015

I was not able to fly, drive, bike, jog, or dogsled to Austin, TX for QuiltCon this year. I know, it's sad, but true. Perhaps you know this feeling; while you cannot physically be somewhere, you can still be present in spirit and thought. While, I wasn't able to actually be there, I spent a considerable amount of time scoping out the vendors, poking my head in to classes, taking a close look at great quilts and really enjoying myself.  I couldn't have had as much fun though, if not for Instagram, and some great people I met along the way.

Mary at Confessions of a Craft Addict hosted a really fun Instagram scavenger hunt. She provided a list of 20 subjects to find and provided an easy to use Google Form to fill out along the way. Mary's hunt pushed me to delve into QuiltCon, abandoning all other cares!

I found that Brenda of Pink Castle Fabrics and Just A Bit Frayed had provided nifty sticky notes so QuiltCon attendees could play the #pinkcastlepostits game.  Now, I'm not affiliated with Pink Castle, but they are fantastic. I shopped their store earlier this year and found it to be a most unique experience. I wrote about that here. I was jealous of the sticky notes, and the game, so I whipped up my own 'home edition' to play along. 

Homemade post-its and a peek at an idea for a Broadway Mini Quilt Swap!

Michael Miller Fabrics took sympathy on those of us who were not able to make QuiltCon and offered us #mmfvirtualquiltcon. I had to play along with their drawing, after all I just finished The Foothills Mystery quilt top with some of their awesome cotton couture fabric as the background. I'll write more about that awesome quilt-along hosted by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs a little later.

My rendition of the Foothills Mystery Quilt with that soft and luxurious grey background fabric!

I didn't get to meet or shake hands with quilt celebrities, but I felt like I could see them from across the atrium. Carolyn Friedlander, Luke Haynes, Yoshiko Jinzenji, Victoria Wolfe Findlay were all there, and are only a handful of people that I would like to take a class from, or hear speak. 

There was someone else that I never could catch up with. If you haven't seen her already, you should check out Samarra Khaja. She really got into QuiltCon, and created a bit of mayhem. If I could have any other person's experience of the convention, I would want hers! Check her out and the hashtag #quiltconartist. 

I was this close! I saw Samarra admiring that MQG bag. I'm the creeper in the blue polo shirt!

QuiltCon came and went all too quickly, fortunately I was still able to experience QuiltCon 2015, albeit vicariously. 

What was your favorite Quilt Con memory, vicarious or otherwise?