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She dreams in gingham and calico

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORFMY
Published July 25, 2006

DADE CITY - When Donna Lillibridge curls on her sofa beneath a quilt sewn with her own hands, it's a happily ever after story.

A few years ago, the Pasco County school psychologist and passionate quilter was mulling retirement options.

Shopping in Dade City one day, Lillibridge ran into the manager of a local quilt store that had recently closed. She loved the city because it felt like the small Northern California town where she had grown up, where her grandparents were ranchers and her parents ran a dry goods store.

"I was looking ahead and thinking about what to do with some inheritance money," recalls Lillibridge, now 60, who looked at quilt stores around the state before deciding to invest in her own.

Today her Quilts on Plum Lane stands at Meridian Avenue and Seventh Street in downtown Dade City, in the historic district.

Inside the shop, hand-built wooden shelves are stacked high with colorful bolts of fabric: batiks, tropicals, woolens, African, Civil War era and seasonal varieties. Finished quilts hang from the walls. Baskets brim with "fat quarters" and "quilters candles" - 6-inch, 10-cent scrap. And everywhere, quilters work. Some take classes in the back, others hunt for fabric, some just browse.

"Quilt stores are a destination," Lillibridge says. "And Dade City is a wonderful place for a quilt store. I'm very blessed."

It was almost like the town had called her home.

Before opening Quilts on Plum Lane, she was living in a large house in Lutz, on property big enough to keep horses and pursue her hobby as a dressage rider.

What would make it even more blissful? she asked herself.

Easy.

Living within walking distance of her business.

Lillibridge, who still works full-time as a school psychologist, was putting in long days at work, then a second shift at the quilt store, then commuting back to Lutz.

Late last fall she bought a vintage older home in one of Dade City's picturesque downtown neighborhoods. The 1,400-square-foot home features two bedrooms, one bath, 10-foot ceilings, built-in cabinets and a sprawling front porch.

Inside, it's a comfort zone of leather furniture, quilts, Indian artifacts, baskets, books, rugs, even an antique thread cabinet from her parents' dry goods store.

Vintage artwork on the walls depicts Northern California wine country where she grew up, as well as the Korbel winery where she first learned to ride horses as a little girl.

She still has her great-grandfather's certificate from his quicksilver mine, as well as pottery she collected in California. She made the birdhouses that are on the mantel.

The mosaic tables were made by her mother. The crystal in the pie safe belonged to her grandmother, and the Flow Blue china was once a fixture on her grandparents' ranch.

"I like hand-me-downs," she explains with a laugh. "I'm all about history and my family."

The house, built of Florida's heart pine, retains its beautiful honey-colored wood floors. A bonus is the house's proximity to her three children and seven grandchildren.

"If I had to retire then I still wanted to work at something I loved and live in an area very much like where I grew up," she says of her life that now includes a vintage house in a thriving small town and her own quilt store.

What sets apart her quilt shop from others isn't its busy feel or corner location in the heart of Dade City.

Beginners and master quilters alike will enjoy browsing, she says, "because we're really friendly."

A lot like the little town she settled in.

[Last modified July 24, 2006, 20:38:38]