Liz Riddle's old business on Hwy. 11 just north of the square. She has now reopened two miles further up the road as "Blooms & Stitches.:
Ever wonder what happened to Liz Riddle's "Lily Pad" garden center and quilt shop? The store, in an old gas station just north of downtown Trenton, was always so gaily festooned in seasonal splendor--petunias in the spring, mums in the fall, fat red Santas and Christmas trees in December--as to cause traffic accidents.
All that disappeared earlier this year, to be replaced with a crowded mini-metropolis of pre-manufactured storage buildings pimpled with signs that say RENT TO OWN, NO CREDIT CHECK and TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP.
It was all enough to make The Planet, anyway, sigh, "Où sont les Lily Pads d'antan?" (The Planet frequently sighs in French verse, in order to justify the money The Planet's parents spent on its liberal arts education.)
The real line of poetry, by Francois Villon, is "Où sont les neiges d'antan?"--where are the snows of yesterday?--and The Planet cannot mention The Lily Pad without that kind of nostalgia. The Planet first became acquainted with The Lily Pad in 2015 when it did, as part of a Trenton Arts Council series of articles--The Planet was besties with the Arts Council's late and sorely missed Mary Petruska--an investigative piece about why the garden-art version of Michelangelo's David, a famous nude, was wearing a flippy little skirt in front of The Lily Pad. (You can read that article in Chattanoogan.com by clicking the photo at left.)
That's when The Planet became acquainted with The Lily Pad's proprietress, Liz Riddle, who, shortly thereafter added to the store "The Quilter's Garden" to encompass her other passion, quilting. Liz not only sold material and notions at her shop, she also gave lessons, did long-arm quilting with her specialized machine, and participated in "Row by Row," an international travel-based free pattern program, putting Trenton on the quilting tourism map.
Quilting tourism. Who knew? So The Planet, worried that it might have tried a little too hard to be funny about David's nekkidity, and any attempts to mitigate same, did an article, and also tried to toss Liz some ink when Liz gave quilting demonstrations around town. Thus Liz eventually forgave The Planet its sophomoric humor and was even an advertiser for a while.
Anyway! Since The Lily Pad disappeared, The Planet has missed it and no one could have been more delighted than The Planet to hear from Liz recently that she had reopened a bit further north.
The new shop is called Blooms & Stitches, and it's exactly two miles north of the old one on Highway 11--the address is 14749 Highway 11--right next door the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Liz says she actually opened for bedding plant sales at her new location this spring, though she bowed to the weather and stopped ordering new stock after Mother's Day. She said older customers knew where she was because it's where she started out, years before she rented the old gas station north of the square.
The shop building is adjacent to the Riddles' home and began life as a glorified garage. Liz and her husband, Lee, kept making it bigger and adding features--full bath, canning-sized kitchen--until the building is more than adequate to house a nursery and quilting store.
Liz will return to the garden center business with fall plants in September and Christmas trees a little later on. Meanwhile, she is generally open Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for the quilting end of the biz. She plans to host come-sew and quilting lesson days Thursdays and Saturdays. She may often be open for other weekdays, too, and invites all to check her Facebook page, bloomsnstitches, for particulars.
That's all! Liz just wanted to inform all those nostalgic for her flowers, decor and quilting that they're not gone at all. They're just up the road, and eager to be found.
