This week, your witches in stitches went on a road trip. Bearing in mind, we’ve been in lockdown since forever, secluded at home, to venture out was a bit of excitement. We were like kids in a sweetie shop. Oh, look! New houses, oh, look! new traffic lights, oh, look! Still the same old drivers trying to cut you up on the Sydenham by-pass. Oh well, some things never change. I digress.

Somebody suggested that we might like to point our broomsticks in the direction of Ballymena and visit the quilting Aladdin’s Cave that is Fiddlesticks Fabrics. Chief Witch was on the hunt for baby quilt ideas for a baby boy (don’t panic, not hers!) and Chief Stitch was looking for a couple of plain blenders to go with some recently acquired batiks. Having had a scan of the website the evening before and armed with a budget and the Sat Nav, off we went. My goodness, to actually drive for an hour – imagine that? Can’t think of the last time that happened. For Chief Witch there was a bit of a quandary between an applique train quilt, or a pre-printed panel (the panel won) and as a birthday bonus, more batiks were also included in the deal. A new range of plain blenders, printed to look like the texture of linen are an absolute steal at £8 per metre, and the whole range of fabrics is amazing and good value.

Chief Witch or Chief Stitch? Chief Witch or Chief Stitch?

Of course, we didn’t just drool, ponder and buy. Bless Karen and Barbara, we also bent their collective ears for the cause of Quilts for Care Leavers. Now for a shop such as Fiddlesticks to exist, there must surely be a community of quilting stitchers, but so far, the spells cast to find some of them hadn’t worked. However, Karen is now going to champion the cause for us in Co Antrim, to not only pass on the information but also to run workshops and act as a regional hub for the collection of quilts. We look forward to visiting again.

Having procured a lunch option from the garage next door, we ended up eating it in the car, parked up in a rather dodgy looking entrance to a field. But the view across the landscape was nothing short of magical for the ten minutes it took for the girls to stuff our faces. (Sweet Chilli Chicken Pasta salad with tobacco onions was a welcome refuel for only £2.99; what can I say? The girls love a bargain).

Happy Stitchin’