Fabric as a medium for art

Recently there's been a lot of discussion on the SAQA list about using fabric/thread as an art medium - would a quilt work just as well if it was a painting rather than made of fabric? Would an oil painting work as a watercolour? Etc. Olga's post on Ragged Cloth Cafe is definitely worth reading on this subject.

The latest Art Quilt News e-newlsetter had photos of several quilts that would have worked well as paintings, and then this, Layers of Memory by Diane Savona, that felt "right" in fabric -
Perhaps this is because its subject references not just fabric/thread itself but also a lot of attributes, memories, feelings, cultural assumptions that are connected with fabric, emphasised by including objects made of and related to fabric. There are layers of meaning, and the piece is self-referential - it "shows how it was made".