Rosa Villagrana (Silver Lake) is a traditional Mexican cook and a quilter. She prepares traditional Mexican dishes that she sells at stores around Lake County. After learning to quilt from local quilters in the 1980s, Villagrana began hand and machine quilting.
Bio
Rosa Villagrana is a quilter and a traditional Mexican cook. Born in Mexico, Villagrana moved to Oregon in the 1980s for her husband’s job. Villagrana is known for her traditional Mexican dishes including salsa, enchiladas, tortillas, and pan dulce (sweet breads or cookies). She has passed this tradition to her daughter, who also enjoys making traditional food. In addition to cooking for her family, Villagrana sells her baked goods and savory items at stores in Silver Valley and Christmas Valley. Villagrana learned to quilt from a local group of women at the Silver Lake quilt shop. She pieces and quilts her quilts by hand or by machine, preferring to use patterns and precise embroidery in her finished work. Villagrana enjoys making quilts for family members, including lap quilts for when her grandchildren come to visit, a Mosaic Magic quilt for her brother and sister, and an Irish chain quilt for her husband. Cooking and quilting are her two great passions, though they sometimes interfere with each other. “I love cooking, and baking more than anything else,” she says. “Except that sometimes the quilting and the cooking kind of fight each other. I want to finish this batch of cookies so I can go and finish that sewing.
