Travelling to Birmingham for enjoyment and inspiration, I visited the Festival of Quilts. I saw many impressive pieces in the show’s galleries but my two favourites were Pam Stallebras and Cecile Trentini.

Pam Stallebras used different techniques of printing photos taken during an Africa trip, or their negatives, on textile. Her quilt shown above inspired me to try cyanotype, which creates a beautiful strong blue colour with the negative of the photo appearing like a ghost, ranging from pure white through all the shades of that blue.

Cecile Trentini from Switzerland showed her series of quilts called Circonvolutions. These pieces are intricate drawings using the sewing machine and the coloured threads instead of a pencil. These textile pieces can take their proud place next to ‘proper’ art. At this year’s Royal Academy summer exhibition, I noticed a number of textile pieces and hope that, maybe, curators and the art market will become more open to the medium of textile than in the past.

For all exhibitors in Birmingham, check out www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/galleries