Behind the Journeys

We were thrilled to award Linda Steele the ECT Travel sponsor’s prize at Carrefour - European Patchwork Festival 2026 for her vibrant and transporting quilt ‘Turquoise Sea’. We caught up with the Melbourne-based quilt artist to find out more about her work, how she got started and the joy of travelling the fibre art world. 

This December will sees Amsterdam burst into light thanks to the 15th anniversary of its magical Light Festival. In this week's blog, we take a look at the origins of the city's best loved winter event and look forward to this year's supremely sparkling edition. 

For over fifteen years, Anitha Reddy, art historian and community-based textile art practitioner, curator and researcher, has been collaborating with the Siddis in Uttara Kannada in the south Indian state of Karnataka to make ‘kavands’ - quilts stitched from worn clothes and fabric that carry familial memory, reminiscence and remembrance in an attempt to reimagine authorship. In this week's blog, we find out more about the beautiful, storied work they make together. 

As the India Quilt Foundation takes its stand at Carrefour ~ The European Quilt Show 2026 - sponsored by ECT Travel - we had a chat with multiple international award-winning quilter, Chitra Mandanna who has been involved with the Foundation's International Quilt Festival since the beginning about her quilting life and long involvement with India's premier event for quilt-making and fibre art.

Everglades House & Gardens is Australia’s most spectacular inter-war period garden. In this week's blog we take a look at this Art Deco masterpiece in Australia's breathtaking Blue Mountains.

Islamic gardens are more than places for growing and playing. Rooted in the Quranic vision of paradise, they are deeply philosophical environments designed as a microcosm of the universe. In this week's blog, we take a quick look at the defining features of these captivating spaces.